title: A profile of drug resistance genes and integrons in E. coli causing surgical wound infections in the Faisalabad region of Pakistan.
abstract: Escherichia coli are one of the leading causes of infection in wounds. Emerging multiple drug resistance among E. coli poses a serious challenge to antimicrobial therapy for wounds. This study was conducted to ascertain a baseline profile of antimicrobial resistance in E. coli isolates infecting surgical wounds. A total of 64 pus samples from hospitalized patients were screened and 29 (45.3%) were found to have E. coli, which were identified biochemically and confirmed by molecular methods. Using the disc diffusion method, antimicrobial resistance was observed toward tetracycline (100%), cefradine (100%), nalidixic acid (93.1%), ampicillin (86.2%), gentamicin (86.2%), cefixime (82.8%), ceftriaxone (82.8%), aztreonam (82.8%), ciprofloxacin (75.9%), streptomycin (72.4%), cefoperazone (65.5%), chloramphenicol (58.6%) and amikacin (58.6%). In an effort to find relevant genes, 11 different genes were targeted by PCR. Among these, the mutated gyrA gene was found to be the most prevalent (82.8%), followed by the TEM (72.4%), catP (68.9%), catA1 (68.9%), tetB (62.1%), blt (58.6%), bla(CTX-M-15) (27.6%), bla(TEM) (20.7%), bla(OXA) (17.2%), tetA (17.2%) and aadA1 (13.8%) genes. The presence of integrons was also studied among these isolates. The prevalence of class 1 integrons was the highest (44.8%), followed by class 2 (27.6%). Three (10.3%) isolates carried both class 1 and class 2 integrons (first report from E. coli infecting wounds). The high incidence of integrons points toward their facilitation for carriage of antimicrobial resistance genes; however, in nearly 37% isolates, no integrons were detected, indicating the significance of alternative mechanisms of gene transfer. Another salient finding was that all isolates were multidrug-resistant E. coli.
authors.affiliation: Health Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Azeem
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.forename: Aamir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Mashkoor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohsin
authors.forename: Saira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bashir
authors.forename: Ayesha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tariq
authors.forename: Amna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.forename: Tayyaba
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iftikhar
authors.forename: Yasra
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sarwar
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D032023:Integrons / Q000235:genetics*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010154:Pakistan; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial