Detection of tetM, armA, blaPER-1 and blaIMP genes in E. coli isolates among the gram negative bacteria that cause urinary tract infections

The purpose of this study was to define the prevalence of gram negative bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) and to look for the genes tetM, blaIMP, and ND M-1 in uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates. This study was conducted on 205 urine samples collected from outpatients having a urinary tract infection for Baquba teaching hospital. The VITEK 2 compact device, which is fully automated, was used to identify the causative microorganisms and also used in antimicrobials susceptibility test. Combined-disk test was used for phenotypic determination of beta lactamases producing isolates and after DNA extraction, PCR was used to determine the genotypic status of the 16S rRNA, tetM, blaIMP , and NDM-1 genes..Out of 205 urine samples, only 72(35.12%) were found to have gram negative bacteria, isolated microorganisms were Escherichia coli 44 (35.7%), K. Pneumonia 18(14.6%), P. aeruginosa 8(6.5 %) were 2 (1.6 %) diagnosed as Burkholderia cepacia . Overall highest susceptibility was observed for imipenem, meropenem, amikacin, momocycline, colistin and to tazobactam and 32 isolates from E. coli were confirmed to be ESBL producers. 16S rRNA gene sequencing attributed the isolates to Escherichia coli . Among the 10 E. coli isolates recovered from the UTI patients, isolates which positive for tetM ( 90%) and which negative for armA , blaPER-1 and blaIMP . The most common gram negative bacteria found to cause UTIs were E. coli and K. pneumoniae. This study found that a few pathogens of E. coli are resistant to IPM and MEM. The frequency of tetM genes that are responsible for this resistance among pathogenic E. coli isolates in diyala, was high.