title: Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns and Molecular Epidemiology of Metallo-β-Lactamase Producing Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Strains Isolated From Burn Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Failure in the treatment of burn patients infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa could happen as a result of the acquisition of antibiotic resistance, including carbapenems.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains, isolated from burn patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a 12 month period, in this cross-sectional study, two hundred seventy strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated from the burn patients in Ghotbeddin Burn Hospital, Shiraz, Iran. Screening for the carbapenem resistance in the isolates was carried out by the E test method. Sensitivity patterns of metallo-β-lactamase (MβLs) producing strains of pseudomonas to eleven antibiotics were determined by the mentioned method. The epidemiological associations of these strains were determined by Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 270 strains, 60 (22.2%) were resistant to imipenem and meropenem, classified as MβLs producing. MβLs producing strains of pseudomonas were completely resistant to five tested antibiotics while their sensitivities to the three most effective antibiotics including ceftazidime, amikacin and ciprofloxacin were 23.4%, 6.7 % and 1.7%, respectively. In PFGE, 37 patterns from the genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were observed. Majority of the strains (43; 71.6%) exhibited more than 80% similarity, based on the drawn dendrogram.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the results, none of the tested antibiotics is safe to prescribe. As PFGE revealed, a limited number of Pseudomonas aeruginosa types are predominant in the hospitals which infect the burn patients.
authors.affiliation: Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Nemazee Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Japoni
authors.affiliation: Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Nemazee Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anvarinejad
authors.affiliation: Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Nemazee Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Shohreh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farshad
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Giammanco
authors.affiliation: Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Nemazee Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Noroddin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rafaatpour
authors.affiliation: Alborzi Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Nemazee Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alipour
keywords: Beta-Lactamases; Imipenem; Meropenem; Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis