Molecular Typing of Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolates by Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC)- PCR

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium and a part of the natural microflora of gastrointestinal tract in human body. K. pneumoniae has been known as one of the most common cause of nosocomial infections and multi-drug resistance pathogen. The aims of this study was to examine the detection of antimicrobial susceptibility and genetic relatedness among K. pneumoniae strains isolated from hospitals in Borujerd in western Iran using Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC)–PCR technique.
A total of 100 K. pneumoniae isolates were collected from Borujerd hospitals from April to September 2015. After detection and confirmation of K. pneumoniae isolates by conventional laboratory methods and differential tests, antibiotic susceptibility was detected by disk diffusion method. Also, genetic relatedness of 34 selected MDR K. pneumoniae isolates were investigated by ERIC - PCR technique.
Antibiotic susceptibility testing showed that among K. pneumoniae isolates, the highest antibiotic resistance was observed in ampicillin (91%) and the highest susceptibility was detected in imipenem (5.5%). More than 45% of isolates showed multi resistant phenotypes. Based on ERIC-PCR results, 31 different ERIC types were detected.
The results of this study indicate the increase of multi resistance K. pneumoniae in hospitals under study. The results of ERIC PCR showed high genetic diversity among K. pneumoniae strains, which indicated the poly clonal distribution of K. pneumoniae isolates in Borujerd hospitals.