Prevalence of antibiotic resistance and genetic relatedness of Escherichia coli isolates in HIV and thalassemia patients in southeastern Iran.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in Escherichia coli isolates from HIV and thalassemia patients and to determine the phylogenetic group distribution and to genotype the isolates in southeastern Iran. This cross-sectional study was performed in E. coli isolates taken from fecal and urine samples of 43 HIV and 62 thalassemia patients. The E. coli isolates were examined for 13 antibiotic resistance genes and determine the phylogroups. The Rep-PCR DNA fingerprinting method was utilized to determine the genotype of the isolates. Among the 105 E. coli isolates, 66.7% isolates were positive for qnrS, 55.2% for dhfrI, 40.9% for sulI, 33.3% for sulII and 31.4% for blaTEM genes. A blaCTX-M-15 gene was detected in 20.9% isolates, aac(3)-I in 14.3% isolates and aadA in 12.4% isolates, whereas blaSHV and qnrB genes were identified in 10.5% and 8.6% isolates, respectively. Out of the isolates, only 2.8% isolates possessed the blaOXA-1 gene, and no IMP and VIM genes were detected. The significant phylogroup was A (37.2%), B2 (15.3%), B1 and unknown (each 14.3%), D (13.4%) and C, F and clade I (each 2%). Phylogroup A accounted for the highest antibiotic resistance. The results of Rep-PCR indicated that the isolates were closely related. These results showed a high prevalence of genes encoding antibiotic resistance in the E. coli isolates. The majority of E. coli isolates distributed among phylogroup A, whereas positive isolates for antibiotic resistance genes were disseminated among various phylogroups (A, B2, and D).

Antibiotic resistance profile and virulence genes of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates in relation to phylogeny.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains are the major cause of urinary tract infections (UTI) and belong to the large group of extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli. The purposes of this study were to determine the antibiotic resistance profile, virulence genes and phylogenetic background of E. coli isolates from UTI cases. A total of 137 E. coli isolates were obtained from UTI samples. The antimicrobial susceptibility of confirmed isolates was determined by disk diffusion method against eight antibiotics. The isolates were examined to determine the presence and prevalence of selected virulence genes including iucD, sfa/focDE, papEF and hly. ECOR phylo-groups of isolates were determined by detection of yjaA and chuA genes and fragment TspE4.C2. The antibiogram results showed that 71% of the isolates were resistant to cefazolin, 60.42% to co-trimoxazole, 54.16% to nalidixic acid, 36.45% to gentamicin, 29.18% to ciprofloxacin, 14.58% to cefepime, 6.25% to nitrofurantoin and 0.00% to imipenem. Twenty-two antibiotic resistance patterns were observed among the isolates. Virulence genotyping of isolates revealed that 58.39% isolates had at least one of the four virulence genes. The iucD gene was the most prevalent gene (43.06%). The other genes including sfa/focDE, papEF and hly genes were detected in 35.76%, 18.97% and 2.18% isolates, respectively. Nine combination patterns of the virulence genes were detected in isolates. Phylotyping of 137 isolates revealed that the isolates fell into A (45.99%), B1 (13.14%), B2 (19.71%) and D (21.16%) groups. Phylotyping of multidrug resistant isolates indicated that these isolates are mostly in A (60.34%) and D (20.38%) groups. In conclusion, the isolates that possessed the iucD, sfa/focDE, papEF and hly virulence genes mostly belonged to A and B2 groups, whereas antibiotic resistant isolates were in groups A and D. Escherichia coli strains carrying virulence factors and antibiotic resistance are distributed in specific phylogenetic background.

Virulence genotyping of Escherichia coli isolates from diarrheic and urinary tract infections in relation to phylogeny in southeast of Iran.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of virulence genes and phylogenetic groups/subgroups of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolates from diarrheic and urinary tract infections (UTI) cases in Rigan area, southeast of Iran. One hundred thirty five E. coli were isolated from diarrheic (90 isolates) and urinary tract infections (45 isolates) samples. The confirmed isolates were examined to detect the phylogenetic group/subgroups and a selection of virulence genes including iucD, sfa/focDE, afaIBC, papEF, hly, cnfI and cdtI by PCR. The examined isolates belonged to four phylogenetic groups A (42.2%), B1 (14.1%), B2 (10.4%), and D (33.3%). Among 135 tested bacteria, 62.22% of diarrheic and 30.37% of UTI isolates had at least one of the virulence genes. In the diarrheic isolates iucD (47.77%) was the most prevalent gene. The other genes including sfa/focDE, afaIBC, papEF and cnfI/cdtI genes were detected in 15, 13, 11 and one diarrheic isolates respectively. None of the diarrheic isolates were positive for hly gene. Out of 45 UTI isolates 28.88% were positive for iucD, 13.33% for cnfI, 11.11% for afaIBC, 11.11% for papEF, 6.66% for sfa/focDE and 4.44% for cdtI genes. Several combination patterns of the virulence genes were detected in diarrheic and UTI isolates. In conclusion, the prevalence of virulence genes in diarrheic and UTI isolates differ according to phylogenetic groups, although B2 and D phylotypes have an accumulation of virulence associated genes.

Serological evidence of canine herpesvirus-1 in dogs of Kerman city, south-east of Iran.

Canine herpes virus-1 (CHV-1) is an alphaherpesvirus, which causes foetal and neonatal death as well as fertility problems in dogs. The virus is presumed to be enzootic in dogs all over the world, but no information was found about the seroprevalence of CHV-1 from middle-east countries. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the seroprevalence of CHV-1 among dogs in Kerman (south-east of Iran). Blood samples were taken from 47 privately owned and 35 kennelled dogs, respectively. The entire sampled dogs were apparently healthy. Indirect immunofluorescence antibody (IFA) assay was used to detect antibodies against CHV-1 in all sera. The overall CHV-1 seroprevalence was estimated 20.7%, which was 22.9% and 19.1% for kennelled and owned dogs, respectively. Sex, parity and raising status (owned or kennels) did not differ significantly between seropositive and seronegative dogs. However, the infection rate was significantly higher in dogs older than 3 in comparison with younger groups (15.9% vs. 4.8%, P ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, this study revealed that CHV-1 could be considered endemic in Iran, and more epidemiological researches are needed to identify the geographical distribution of diseases in Iran.