Emerg Infect DiseidEmerging Infectious Diseases1080-60401080-6059Centers for Disease Control112662932631670Research ArticleTransferable plasmid-mediated resistance to streptomycin in a clinical isolate of Yersinia pestis.GuiyouleA.GerbaudG.BuchrieserC.GalimandM.RahalisonL.ChanteauS.CourvalinP.CarnielE.Laboratoire des Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris, France.Jan-Feb2001714348

Plasmid-mediated high-level resistance to multiple antibiotics was reported in a clinical isolate of Yersinia pestis in Madagascar in 1997. We describe a second Y. pestis strain with high-level resistance to streptomycin, isolated from a human case of bubonic plague in Madagascar. The resistance determinants were carried by a self-transferable plasmid that could conjugate at high frequencies to other Y. pestis isolates. The plasmid and the host bacterium were different from those previously associated with multiple-drug resistance, indicating that acquisition of resistance plasmids is occurring in this bacterial species. Emergence of resistance to streptomycin in Y. pestis represents a critical public health problem since this antibiotic is used as the first-line treatment against plague in many countries.