Comparative Evaluation of <i>qnrA</i>, <i>qnrB</i>, and <i>qnrS</i> Genes in <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> Ciprofloxacin-Resistant Cases, in Swine Units and a Hospital from Western Romania
Alexandru O. Doma,
Roxana Popescu,
Mihai Mitulețu,
Delia Muntean,
János Dégi,
Marius V. Boldea,
Isidora Radulov,
Eugenia Dumitrescu,
Florin Muselin,
Nikola Puvača,
Romeo T. Cristina
Affiliations
Alexandru O. Doma
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Roxana Popescu
Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timișoara, Piaţa Eftimie Murgu, 2, 300041 Timişoara, Romania
Mihai Mitulețu
Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timișoara, Piaţa Eftimie Murgu, 2, 300041 Timişoara, Romania
Delia Muntean
Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timișoara, Piaţa Eftimie Murgu, 2, 300041 Timişoara, Romania
János Dégi
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Marius V. Boldea
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Isidora Radulov
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Eugenia Dumitrescu
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Florin Muselin
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Nikola Puvača
Department of Engineering Management in Biotechnology, Faculty of Economics and Engineering Management in Novi Sad, University Business Academy in Novi Sad, Cvećarska 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Romeo T. Cristina
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara, Calea Aradului 119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Excessive use of antimicrobials and inadequate infection control practices has turned antimicrobial resistance (AMR) into a global, public health peril. We studied the expression of qnrA, qnrB, and qnrS plasmid in ciprofloxacin (CIP)-resistant strains of Escherichia coli in swine and humans from Romania, using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (AST) for human subjects (H) on 147 samples and 53 swine (S) was ascertained as well as the isolation of bacterial DNA (E. coli) as follows: bacteriolysis, DNA-binding, rinsing, elution, amplification, and nucleic acids’ migration and U.V. visualization stages. From 24 samples of E. coli resistant to CIP collected from H subjects and 15 from S, for PCR analysis, 15 H and 12 S were used, with DNA purity of 1.8. The statistically analyzed results using the Crosstabs function (IBM SPSS Statistics-Ver. 2.1.), revealed the qnrS (417 bp) gene in 13 human subjects (52.0%), as well as in all swine samples studied. The qnrB (526 bp) gene was exposed in 9 of the human patients (36.0%) and in all swine isolates, and the qnrA (516 bp) gene was observed only in 3 of the isolates obtained from human subjects (12.0%) and was not discovered in pigs (p > 0.05). The presence of plasmids qnrA, qnrB, and qnrS in the human samples and of qnrB and qnrS in swine, facilitates the survival of pathogens despite the CIP action. The long-term use of CIP could cause a boost in the prevalence of qnr resistance genes, and resistance in the pigs destined for slaughter, a perturbing fact for public health and the human consumer.
