Saira Bashir, Abdul Haque, Yasra Sarwar and Ahmad Raza
Background: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli are among the major pathogens causing urinary tract infections. In the current study the uropathogenic E. coli were isolated from clinical samples of urine from Faisalabad region of Pakistan. The extensive use of antibiotics to treat such infections resulted in the emergence of Multiple Drug Resistant (MDR) bacteria. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of integrons and antibiotic resistance among pathogenic E. coli isolated from patients with urinary tract infections. Methods: In this study, a total of 26 isolates were studied for phenotypic resistance by disc diffusion method and genotypic resistance by PCR. Results: Most of the isolates exhibited multiple drug resistance to ampicillin (100%), tetracycline (77%), streptomycin (81%), trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole (65%), nalidixic acid (46%), ciprofloxacin (38%) and chloramphenicol (27%). The prevalence of the drug resistance genes was in following order: tetA (12%), tetB (65%), tem (58%), tem β lactamase (15%), sulI (4%), sul II (8%), gyrA (73%), catp (35%). The gene aadA1 was absent among the isolates. It was also found that class 1 integrons were present in 69% of multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates and the isolates were more resistant to ampicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin, trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol than isolates with no class 1 integrons. An instance of class 2 integrons was detected only in one isolate, but there was no instance of class 3 integrons in any of the isolates. Conclusions: This study revealed that class I integrons are widely present in pathogenic E. coli isolated from clinical samples of urine. Antibiotic resistance to multiple drugs is a serious emerging threat in developing countries like Pakistan.
