Integrons in Escherichia coli from food-producing animals in The Netherlands.

The presence and character of class 1 integrons in multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli from slaughter animals and meat was determined by integrase-specific PCR and conserved segment PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). At least five different class 1 integron types were found and three types were shared between hospitalized patients, humans in the community, meat, and slaughter animals. Common integron types indicate that antibiotic resistance genes are exchanged via the food chain between different reservoirs of both human and animal origin.