Detection of Antibiotic Resistance Genes Among Multiple Drug Resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Isolated from Clinical Sources in Selected Health Institutions in Kwara State

Abstract

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is a frequent nosocomial pathogen that causes severe diseases in many clinical and community settings. Strains of P. aeruginosa are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. The rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistance among these strains is a public health crisis. Moreover, there is a paucity of data on the characterization of P. aeruginosa isolates from human clinical samples in Kwara State.

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to investigate the occurrence of metallo β-lactamase enzyme, multiple antibiotic resistant P. aeruginosa among clinical samples and detection of antibiotic resistance genes among them.

Methods: Two hundred and thirty-five samples comprising of 145 males and 90 females human clinical specimens were collected aseptically from five selected health institutions within Kwara State, Nigeria. The samples were cultured immediately using standard microbiological procedures. Multiple drug resistance patterns of the micro-organisms to different antibiotics were determined using the Bauer Kirby disc diffusion technique. Metallo β-lactamase production was determined using E - test strip and the DNA samples of the multiple resistant P. aeruginosa strains were extracted and subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for resistant genes determination. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

Results: A total of 145 isolates were identified for P. aeruginosa from the clinical samples. Thirty were positive for metallo β-lactamase production; 11 (8%) males and 19 (13%) females. Absolute resistance to ceftazidime (100%), gentamicin (100%), ceftriaxone (100%) were observed while low resistance to ciprofloxacin (12.4%), piperacillin (6.9%) and imipenem (6.9%). All isolates were sensitive to colistin. The prevalence of various encoding genes blaVIM, , blaCTX-M and blaTEM were 34.4%, 46.7%, 16.7% and 37.7% respectively.

Conclusion: This study has shown that there is a high occurrence of metallo β-lactamase enzyme producing and antibiotic-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa in clinical specimens from the studied area. Necessary measures must, therefore be implemented to stop the problems of this antibiotic resistance.

Keywords: Metallo β-lactamase enzyme; P. aeruginosa; antibiotic-resistant genes; clinical samples; specimens; Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR); , antibiotic resistance; drug resistant genes.