Antibiotic and deoxycholate resistance in Campylobacter jejuni following freezing or heating

Abstract

The surviving populations of C. jejuni serotypes following freezing or heat are more sensitive to rifampicin and sodium deoxycholate on subsequent culture. While control cultures had an IC50 of > 20 .mu.g/ml rifampicin, those of injured cells were < 5 .mu.g/ml. Treatment with EDTA caused almost identical changes in resistance suggesting that the altered resistance pattern of injured cells was due to loss of the barrier properties of the bacterial outer membrane.