Prevalence of the Metallo-β-Lactamase, BlaIMP1 and BlaVIM1 Genes in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Isolated from Hospitalized Patients in Urmia Hospitals

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the gram-negative, opportunistic, catalase-positive pathogens that causes important opportunistic infections such as urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and septicemia. It is resistant to many antibiotics, including third-generation cephalosporins, penicillin and cephamycin. The prevalence of the Metallo-β-lactamase, blaIMP1 and blaVIM1 genes in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa isolated from hospitalized patients in Urmia hospitals has not been investigated yet. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of blaVIM1 and blaIMP1 metallo-β-lactamase genes in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from hospitalized patients in Urmia.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, from May to August 2019, a total of 75 P. aeruginosa from different sections (urine, wound and lung secretions) were collected from Urmia medical centers. After bacterial confirmation by biochemical tests, antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using the disc release method. Identification of blaVIM1 and blaIMP1 genes in the samples was performed using PCR method.

The results of the antibiotic susceptibility test showed 86.6% of resistance to beta-lactam drugs in the isolates. In this study, the highest resistance to cefotaxime (86.6%) and the lowest resistance to gentamicin was observed (16%). Based on the PCR results, 55.38% of isolates contained blaIMP1 gene and 0% contained blaVIM1.

The result of this study showed a large percentage of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, and blaIMP1 was dominant gene among carbapenem-resistant strains. Since the importance of Metallo-β-lactamase generating strains in the hospitals, rapid identification of these strains can be an important step in the treatment and control of infections caused by these strains.