Virulence factors, antibiotic resistance patterns, and molecular types of clinical isolates of .

BACKGROUND

is armed with a wide range of antibiotic resistance mechanisms that mostly challenge effective treatment. The aims of the current study were to identify the clinical strains of also to determine their phenotypes and molecular characterization related to antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

In this investigation, clinical specimens from different hospitals located in Tehran, Iran, were collected during a nine-month period (December 2018 to August 2019). The strains were isolated and identified through standard microbial and biochemical assays. Additionally, disk diffusion, combined disk, Modified Hodge Test (MHT) and PCR were performed for antibiotic resistance and virulence gene analysis, respectively.

RESULTS

Eighty-four isolates of were subjected to the study. According to the combined disk and modified Hodge test results, 27 (52%) and 15 pathotypes (62.5%) out of resistant strains of isolated were detected as ESBL and KPC producers. The virulence genes of mrkD (94%) and magA (11%) were the highest and lowest among isolates, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes in conjunction with a significant relationship between the strains revealed a high pathogenic capacity of the isolated pathotypes of .