Incidence of Resistance Phenotypes of Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from an Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit Unicentric Prospective Transversal Study

Multiple microbial resistance is a global alarming phenomenon in modern medicine, which is experiencing a decrease in the therapeutic options and in the rate of discovery of new antimicrobials. The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence of Escherichia coli resistance phenotypes to suitable antimicrobial chemotherapies in strains isolated from urine samples. The study was conducted between 01.04.2016 and 31.03.2017 in the Department of Microbiology of the Municipal Emergency Clinical Hospital of Timisoara - Obstetrics and Gynecology unit. We used 1931 urine samples collected from the patients in this department. Identification of pathogens was performed on the API system, and chemotherapy sensitivity testing was based on the disk diffusion method. Of the 1931 urine samples, 210 were non-sterile (94 samples from the obstetrics department, 116 from the gynaecology department). The identified pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus (7 samples), coagulase-negative staphylococci (7 samples), Streptococcus spp. (37 samples), Escherichia coli (138 samples), Klebsiella spp. (9 samples), Proteus spp. (6 samples), Serratia spp. (6 samples). The identified resistance phenotypes for Escherichia coli strains were: wild-type strains (36) 25.92%, penicillinase-secreting strains (50) 35.84%, penicillinase-hypersecreting strains (26) 18.91% cephalosporinases (11) 7.98%, ESBL-producing strains (15) 11.17%. The prevention and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria requires knowledge of bacterial resistance mechanisms and the development and application of appropriate in-hospital protocols.