Molecular survey of aminoglycoside-resistant isolated from tertiary hospitals in Qazvin, Iran.

Aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes (AMEs) and 16S rRNA methylases (16S RMTase) are two main resistance mechanisms against aminoglycosides. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of AMEs and 16S rRNA methylase genes among aminoglycoside non-susceptible isolates and to assess their clonal relationship using repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (rep-PCR). In this cross-sectional study, a total of 192 isolates were collected from the patients hospitalized in Qazvin, Iran (January 2016 to January 2018). Identification of isolates was performed by standard laboratory methods and API 20E strips. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by Kirby-Bauer method followed by examination of the genes encoding the AMEs and 16S RMTase by PCR and sequencing methods. The clonal relationship of isolates was carried out by rep-PCR. In total, 98.4% of isolates were non-susceptible to aminoglycosides, 98.4%, 97.9% and 83.9% of isolates were found to be non-susceptible against gentamicin, tobramycin and amikacin, respectively. The frequencies of , , , and genes were 59.3%, 39.2%, 39.2%, 31.7% and 69.8%, respectively, either alone or in combination. Rep-PCR results showed that the aminoglycoside nonsusceptible isolates belonged to three distinct clones: A (79.4%), B (17.5%) and C (3.2%). The findings of this study showed a high frequency for AMEs with the emergence of genes among the aminoglycoside non-susceptible isolates. Rational administration of aminoglycosides as well as using an appropriate infection control policy may reduce the presence of resistance to antibiotics in medical centres.