Isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Cockroaches Captured in Hospitals in Japan, and Their Antibiotic Susceptibility

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were isolated from 45 of 370 (12.2%) cockroaches captured in hospitals. By cockroach species, the bacterial strains were isolated from 39 of 181 (21.5%) Periplaneta fuliginosa and 6 of 183 (3.3%) Blattella germanica, showing a significant difference (p<0.01). Many P. aeruginosa-carrying cockroaches inhabited locker rooms (66.7%) and kitchens (17.8%). In terms of serotyping, many isolates were typed into groups A, G, and B. In drug sensitivity tests, strains showed the highest sensitivity to ciprofloxacin with an MIC90 of 0.25 microg/ml, followed by 2 microg/ml meropenem, and 4 microg/ml ceftazidime, gentamicin, and ofloxacin. In contrast, many strains were resistant to cefotaxime and minocycline, accounting for 86.7% of all resistant strains. However, there was no multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa strain, and all strains were negative for the metallo-beta-lactamase gene (IMP-1 and VIM-2). These findings suggested that cockroach-derived P. aeruginosa may contaminate hospital environments, for which the control of disease-carrying insects in hospitals is important.