Relationship between antimicrobial resistance and class I integron in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from clinical specimens in Yazd during 2012-2013

Antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been increasing in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between antimicrobial resistance and class I integron in P. aeruginosa isolated from clinical specimens in Yazd city. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 144 P. aeruginosa strains from April 2012 to April 2013. All clinical samples were initially identified by the biochemical method and the antibiotic resistance test was performed using the disc diffusion method according to CLSI recommendations. PCR was carried out for the detection of class I integron. Seventy-nine (54.9%) out of 144 patients were male with mean age of 34.9+22.7 years. Resistance rates to various antibiotics were as follows: gentamicin (63.2%), imipenem (62.5%), amikacin (58.3%), ceftazidime (56.9%), ticarcillin (55.6%), tobramycin (55.6%), piperacillin (54.9%) and ciprofloxacin (48.6%) and 75.3% of the isolates were detected as multi-drug resistant. PCR results showed that 119 (82.6%) P. aeruginosa isolates carried class I integron. Class I integrons are commonly found in P. aeruginosa isolated from the clinical samples. Therefore, the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes is often related to these integrons and the contribution of integrons in antibiotic resistance should be evaluated.