ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the questions of erythromycin and ampicillin resistance in Campylobacter jejuni. The recognition of Campylobacter jejuni as a pathogen, as well as its microaerophilic nature, have delayed the study of plasmids in this organism. Although some of the isolates were resistant to antibiotics, no direct correlation could be made between antibiotic resistance and plasmid-carriage. Several methods developed for the isolation of plasmid DNA from Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been modified for isolation of plasmid DNA from Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus. Antibiotic susceptibilities of Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada in 1978 and 1979 have been determined. Tetracycline resistance plasmids from Campylobacter jejuni were characterized further by determining their molecular weight, buoyant density, and restriction endonuclease digestion profiles. From their restriction digestion patterns, plasmids from two Belgian isolates appeared to be very similar. Plasmids from three Canadian isolates, however, gave different patterns from the Belgian isolates.
