title: Carriage of Class 1 and Class 2 Integron in Multidrug ResistantPseudomonas aeruginosaIsolated from Burn Patients in Tehran Hospitals, Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns ofPseudomonas aeruginosaclinical isolates and their associations with the existence of integrons.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a 12-month study, 140 clinically significantPseudomonas aeruginosaisolates were collected from patients hospitalized in the burn ward of different hospitals in Tehran.Pseudomonas aeruginosaisolates were identified using standard laboratory procedures. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for 13 antimicrobial agents according to the standard Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. The frequency of Class 1, 2 and 3 integrons was detected using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The resistance rates ofPseudomonas aeruginosaisolates to 13 antimicrobial agents were between 34.7% and 90.8%. Ceftriaxone and imipenem had good activity against the isolates. Of 140 tested isolates, 91 (65%) were multidrug resistant. The most predominant resistance profile among the isolates included resistance to 10 (12.14%), 9 (12.14%) and 8 (12.14%) antibiotics. Class 1 and 2 integrons were detected in 57.2% (56/98) and 30.6% (30/98) of testedPseudomonas aeruginosaisolates, respectively. Of 98 (70%) integron positive isolates, only 12 (12.2%) isolates were positive for both classes of integrons. Resistance of the isolates to cefotaxime, aztreonam, imipenem, tobramycin, ticarcillin, ciprofloxacin and cloxacillin was observed to be significantly associated with the existence of integrons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data confirmed high prevalence of Class 1 integrons amongPseudomonas aeruginosaisolates from burn patients in this study. Based on these results, integrons may play an important role in the possible transmission of resistance genes to the clinicalPseudomonas aeruginosaisolates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goudarzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicines, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fazeli
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Paramedicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azad
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnol-ogy, Pasteur Institute, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: sima_seyedjavadi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Seyedjavadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Paramedicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mousavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rashidan
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Azargashb
keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; integron; multidrug resistant