ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Rehab Mohammed Elbargisy1,2
1Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Al-Jouf, Saudi Arabia.
2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2022;16(2):1284-1297 | Article Number: 7637
https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.16.2.57 | © The Author(s). 2022
Received: 24/02/2022 | Accepted: 15/04/2022 | Published online: 01/06/2022
Issue online: June 2022
Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of urinary tract infections. This organism has extended resistance to antimicrobials along with multiple virulence factors, making it difficult to treat. In this study, 49 isolates from urine samples were identified as P. aeruginosa and serotyped by the slide agglutination method. The sensitivity of isolates against 10 antipseudomonal drugs was determined. Phenotypically, lipase, protease, hemolysin, and biofilm production were detected. Genes for the type III secretion system, elastase B, and exotoxin A were detected by PCR. Serotype O11 was the most predominant serotype among test isolates. High levels of resistance were observed against ceftazidime, cefepime, piperacillin, and piperacillin/tazobactam while 10.2% of isolates were resistant to amikacin. MDR was detected in 20.4% of the isolates and was significantly associated with strong biofilm producers. About 95.9% and 63.3% of P. aeruginosa isolates had proteolytic and lipolytic activity, respectively. Among the genes detected, the exoY gene was the most prevalent gene (79.6%), while the exoU gene was the least frequent one (10.2%). toxA and lasB genes were amplified in 63.27% and 75.5% of the isolates, respectively. In addition, the exoU gene was significantly associated with MDR isolates. The high incidence of exoS, exoT, exoY, lasB, and toxA genes in uropathogenic P. aeruginosa implies that these genes can be considered markers for virulent isolates. Furthermore, the coexistence of exoU and exoS genes, even in 6% of isolates, poses a significant treatment challenge because those isolates possess both the invasive and cytotoxic properties of both effector proteins.

Keywords

Serotypes, Type III secretion system, antimicrobial resistance, P. aeruginosa, Urinary tract infections

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