Molecular Investigation of Integrons in Escherichia Coli and Klebsiella Pneumoniae Isolated from Urinary Tract Infections

Background and Due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria، treatment of urinary tract infection is becoming more problematic. Integrons are mobile genetic elements that play an important role in dissemination and accumulation of resistance genes of multidrug resistance in bacteria. The aim of the present study was to determine the antibiotic resistant profile، frequency of integron genes (Classes 1،2،3) and investigate the role of integrons in the development of antibiotic resistance among Escheria coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from urinary tract infections. 50 E. coli and 50 K. pneumoniae isolated from the urine samples of patients who referred to Valiasr Hospital، Arak، Iran were subjected to this study. All the isolated samples were confirmed by standard biochemical tests. Isolates were tested for susceptibility to 16 antimicrobial drugs by using disk diffusion method and the distribution of different integron classes was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The highest rate of antibiotic resistance in K. pneumoniae isolates was found in rifampin (90%)، erythromycin (90%)، ceftriaxone (76%)، amoxicillin-Clavulonic acid (76%)، cotrimoxazole (70%)، cefotaxime (70%) ceftazidime (66%) and for E. coli isolates in cotrimoxazole (88%)، ceftriaxone (76%)، amoxicillin-Clavulonic acid (74%)، ceftazidime (72%) and cefotaxime (72%). All the E. coli isolates were susceptible to Imipenem، while only three (6%) of K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to this antibiotic. Ninety percent of K. pneumoniae and 86% of E. coli isolates carried class 1 integrons، whereas class 2 integrons were found in 8% and 2% of E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates، respectively. Class 3 integrons were not found. The high frequency of Class 1 integron in E. coli and k. pneumoniae isolates associated with the high rate of antibiotic resistant indicate that may be integrons play an important role in facilitating the spread of antimicrobial resistance in this region.