Molecular Detection of Aminoglycoside Acetyltransferases Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Community-Acquired Urinary Tract Infections of Patients Referred to Amiralmomenin Hospital, Zabol, 2019-2021

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most prevalent infections in patients referred to hospitals. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the leading cause of UTI. Emerging and spreading infection by aminoglycoside resistant isolates is a healthcare concern worldwide. The present study aimed to investigate the antibiotic resistance patterns and prevalence of aminoglycoside acetyltransferases genes in E. coli isolated from UTI.

A total of 110 non-duplicate isolates were collected from patients referred to Amiralmomenin Hospital, Zabol, Iran, from September 2019 to April 2021. Antibiotic resistance profiles were determined using the Kirby-Bauer test according to guidelines of Clinical Laboratory Standard Institutes (CLSI). The prevalence of aminoglycoside acetyltransferases genes (aac (3)-Ia, aac (6)-Ia, and aac (2)-Ia) was determined by PCR.

In this study, 90% of isolates were susceptible to meropenem and gentamycin. Also, the highest resistance of isolates was against ampicillin with 90% and cephalothin with 60%. Eight (7%) and 5 (4.5%) of isolates were aac (3)-Ia and aac (6)-Ia positive, respectively.

Prescribing ampicillin and cephalothin should be restricted due to their high resistance. Based on the findings of the present study, the prevalence of aac (3)-Ia and aac (6)-Ia genes was not at a high level, however, constant monitoring must be conducted to control the spread of infection by drug-resistance isolates.