Prevalence of Plasmid-mediated quinolone Resistance and ESBLs Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Urinary Tract Infections and Fecal Samples in Southeast Iran

Background and Objectives: The widespread use of beta lactam, quinolone and aminoglycoside antibiotics to treat E. coli infection has led to the spread of antibiotics resistance, which has become a major public health concern. This study was performed to determine antibiotic resistance, the prevalence of beta-lactamases, Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance, aminoglycosides genes and the clonal relationships among E. coli isolates from Urinary tract infection and fecal samples. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 E. coli isolates were collected from inpatients, outpatients with UTIs and from healthy volunteers fecal specimens (100) in Kerman, Iran. Antibacterial resistance was determined. Isolates were screened for the presence of ESBL, PMQR and 16S rRNA methyltransferases genes by polymerase chain reaction. All ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates were genotyped by Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction. Results: In total, 53.3% and 45.3% were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid, respectively. The frequency of PMQR genes, aac(6)-Ib (25%), qnrB (9.37%), qnrS (8.75%), oqxA (5%) and oqxB (3.1%) were observed in samples. rmtA, rmtB, rmtC, rmaA genes were not detected in any of the tested isolates. E. coli isolates were ESBL 35% producers and the frequency of beta-lactamase genes were blaCTX1: 78%, blaTEM: 71.4%, blaOXA: 13.3% and blaSHV: 1.9%. ERIC-PCR showed a diverse genetic pattern among inpatient, outpatients and fecal isolates. Conclusion: Resistance rate to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid was high among the isolates. This resistance in PMQR-positive was significantly higher than in PMQR-negative isolates (P < 0.05). Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the spread of PMQR genes among clinical isolates and to prescribe antibiotics with cautious in a hospital setting.