ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Talal Alharazi1,2 , Mohammed A. Alhoot3, Tawfique K. Alzubiery4, Abdu Aldarhami5, Abdulrahman S Bazaid1,6, Husam Qanash1,6, Jerold C. Alcantara7, Hattan S. Gattan8,9 and Hafez Alsumairy2
1Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Ha’il, Hail 55476, Saudi Arabia.
2Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Taiz University, PO Box 6803-Taiz, Yemen.
3School of Graduate Studies (SGS), Management and Science University (MSU), Shah Alam, 40100, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
4Department of Medical Laboratory, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Taiz University Al-Turbah Branch, Yemen.
5Department of Medical Microbiology, Qunfudah Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Al-Qunfudah 21961, Saudi Arabia.
6Medical and Diagnostic Research Center, University of Ha’il, Hail 55473, Saudi Arabia.
7Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Health Profession, Idaho State University Meridian, USA.
8Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
9Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahad Medical Research center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Article Number: 9249 | © The Author(s). 2024
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2024;18(3):1741-1751. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.18.3.23
Received: 16 January 2024 | Accepted: 27 June 2024 | Published online: 05 August 2024
Issue online: September 2024
Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli presents a global challenge associated with nosocomial infections and increased mortality rates. Understanding resistance profiles is crucial for guiding treatment strategies and ensuring effective antibiotic use. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and in vitro resistance of E. coli to community-acquired and nosocomial infections. Various clinical samples from 700 patients were cultured on MacConkey’s medium and blood agar. The disk diffusion method was used to determine the antibiotic susceptibility profile of the E. coli isolates following the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Urine, pus, seminal fluid, vaginal swabs, and other body fluids were among the clinical samples analyzed. Of the 112 E. coli isolates, 48.2% were from inpatients and 51.8% were from outpatients, with the majority (66%) isolated from urine samples. Higher resistance levels were observed in the urinary isolates than that in the previously recorded data from the same institutions. Notably, isolates exhibited high resistance to penicillin (98.2%), ampicillin (97.3%), first-generation cephalosporins (90.2%), erythromycin (72.2%), and roxithromycin (95.4%), whereas lower resistance was noted against piperacillin-tazobactam (25.0%), nitrofurantoin (12.5%), and imipenem (9.8%). The overall multidrug resistance rate was 62.5%, with higher rates observed in nosocomial infections (70%) compared to community-acquired isolates (55.6%). However, this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). This study underscores the prevalence of E. coli isolates (27.0%) and highlights the concerning level of resistance, particularly to older antibiotics. These findings emphasize the importance of judicious antibiotic use and ongoing surveillance.

Keywords

E. coli, Antibiotics, Antimicrobial Resistance, Community-acquired Infections, Nosocomial Infections, Multidrug Resistance, Urinary Isolates

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© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.