Incidence of antibiotic resistance and R factors among gram-negative bacteria isolated from the neonatal intestine

Stool specimens were collected from 119 infants in the well-baby nursery and 14 infants in the high-risk nursery of University Hospital and examined for the presence of antibiotic-resistant enteric bacteria. A total of 102 resistant strains were isolated from the two groups and examined for the presence of R factors. Of these organisms, 38 per cent were capable of transferring all or part of their antibiotic resistance to an antibiotic-sensitive, F −, derivative of Escherichia coli K-12. The data demonstrated that a significant number of the strains were resistant to ampicillin, streptomycin, or tetracycline and, to a lesser extent, cephalothin or kanamycin.