Evaluation of antimicrobial susceptibility and integron carriage in isolates from patients.

AIM

The purpose of this study was to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern and distribution of integron in isolates collected from patients referred to private health care centers in Tehran, Iran.

BACKGROUND

Antibiotic resistance is the main reason for failure of therapy. Integrons as genetic reservoirs play main roles in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance gene.

METHODS

During a 12-month cross-sectional study period, 65 isolates were recovered from 124 biopsy specimens. Isolates were subjected to susceptibility testing using by Epsilometer test according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guideline. PCR was used to detect different types of integrons.

RESULTS

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that 73.8% of isolates were resistant to metronidazole, 43.1% to clarithromycin, 29.2% to tetracycline, 27.7% to amoxicillin, 23.1% to rifampicin and 13.4% to levofloxacin. Frequency of multidrug resistance among isolates was 26.1%. The most predominant resistance profiles among our isolates were included resistance to clarithromycin and metronidazole (20%). Class 1 and 2 integrons were detected in 8 (12.3%) and 15 (23.1%) of the isolates, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of multidrug resistance and frequency of class 2 integron in this survey can be a warning for clinicians. Continuous surveillance is necessary for the development of new treatment protocols to prevent the treatment failures and also further spread of resistant isolates.