Association between Beta-lactam Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence Factors in AmpC Producing Clinical Strains of P. aeruginosa

The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of and genes in clinical strains of ( ) that are carriers of the gene. In this study, 105 clinical isolates of were collected. Antibiotic resistance patterns were determined using the disk diffusion method. The strains carrying AmpC enzymes were characterized by a combination disk method. Multiplex-PCR was used to identify resistance and virulence genes, chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between variables. Among 105 isolates of , the highest antibiotic resistance was to cefotaxime and aztreonam, and the least resistance was to colictin and ceftazidime. There were 49 isolates (46.66%) that showed an AmpC phenotype. In addition, the frequencies of the resistance genes were; gene 85.2%, 3.8%, 3.8%, 66.6%, 3.8%, 85.2% and 3.8%. The gene was detected in 9 isolates (8.57%) and the was detected in 11 isolates (10.47%). Other genes detected included; (17.1%), (18%) and (26.6%). There was a significant relationship between virulence factors and the and genes ( ≤ 0.05). The relationship between antibiotic resistance and virulence factors observed in this study could play an important role in outbreaks associated with infections.