Epidemiological Cut-off Values Generated for Disc Diffusion Data from Streptococcus parauberis

摘要

Streptococcosis caused by Streptococcus parauberis is a very important disease in farmed olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. For most fish pathogens, including S. parauberis, there are no analytical criteria to distinguish antibiotic-susceptible strains from antibiotic-resistant strains. In this study, epidemiological cut-off (CO_(WT)) values were generated to classify 75 strains of S. parauberis isolated from 1999 to 2018 as wild type (WT) and non-wild type (NWT) using disc diffusion data and normalized resistance interpretation (NRI) analysis. The susceptibility of the isolates to 16 antibiotics was evaluated using CLSI guideline M42-A. The wild-type cut-off values for amoxicillin, erythromycin, oxytetracycline, and florfenicol for S. parauberis were >= 35, 31, 28, and 27 mm, respectively. The NWT ratios of S. parauberis strains to treatment with GEN, FFC, ENR, SXT, EFT, VAN, and CHL were 17% or less, indicating that these antibiotics may be used to treat streptococcosis caused by S. parauberis. For recent S. parauberis isolates, the NWT ratios for AMX, ERY, OTC and FFC are much higher than for strains isolated from 1999-2007. The CO_(WT) data from this study will assist aquatic animal disease professionals in prescribing appropriate antibiotics for the treatment of streptococcosis caused by S. parauberis, which will help reduce the misuse and abuse of antibiotics in the aquaculture sector.