Presence of qnr and aac(6́)-Ib-cr Genes among Quinolone Resistant Proteus species Isolates at Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

Fluroquinolone resistance among the Enterobacteriaceae including Proteus spp. is a serious public health problem as it is used for treating many clinical infections including UTI and intra-abdominal infections. Now-a-days, plasmid- mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) has presented with considerable attention that can spread from one bacterium to another. So, the aim of this study was to detect the presence of qnr type (qnr A, B, D and S) and aac(6́)-Ib-cr genes among clinical isolates of ciprofloxacin resistance Proteus species .This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from March 2020 to February 2021. Antimicrobial susceptibility test of 60 Proteus spp. isolates were done by disc diffusion technique. Among them, 48(80.0%) ciprofloxacin resistant isolates were detected during disk-diffusion technique and MIC of ciprofloxacin was performed among ciprofloxacin resistant Proteus isolates using agar dilution method. Amplification with uniplex specific primers of quinolone resistance genes (qnrA, qnrB, qnrD, qnrS and aac(6́)-Ib-cr) were performed out of quinolone resistant Proteus spp. isolates. Out of 48 Proteus species, Quinolone resistance genes were found positive 22(45.83%) for aac(6́)-Ib-cr, 9(18.75%) for qnrD, 6(12.5%) for qnrA and 3(6.25%) for qnrS. None of the strain was positive for qnrB gene. In total, 64.58% ciprofloxacin resistant Proteus isolates were positive for at least one PMQR gene. In this study, presence of high rate (64.5%) of PMQR genes as well as co-existence (30.0%) of the multiple genes among Proteus spp. is highly alarming, because fast dissemination could occur due to the increased prescription of fluoroquinolones and conjugative plasmid mediated horizontal transfer.