Molecular characterization and antibiotic susceptibility of Proteus mirabilis isolated from different clinical specimens in Zakho city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

Abstract

Proteus mirabilis is one of the important causative agents of bacterial infections in humans. This study involved the prevalence of the virulence genes among P. mirabilis from urine, ear, sputum, burn, wound, and vagina specimens in Zakho city during the period of July 2021 until January 2022 and their susceptibility to different commonly used antimicrobial agents. Isolates were identified by traditional phenotypic and biochemical tests. Out of 400 cultures, 95 (23.75%) were P. mirabilis. The antibiotic susceptibility toward different antibiotics varied among the isolates. The results showed that ceftriaxone was the most potent antibiotic with a susceptibility rate of 90.28 %. The isolates were resistant to many screened antibiotics, with the highest rate of 88.42% to imipenem. Whereas, the resistant proportion was slightly lower toward other antibiotics at rates varied from 74.68 % and 77.89% for Ampicillin and Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, respectively. Fifty-two P. mirabilis isolates were selected for PCR analysis, according to their multiple antimicrobial resistance to the used antibiotics. The selected samples were amplified for P. mirabilis identification by producing a single band of the ureR gene. The prevalence of the virulence genes (flaA, rsbA, zapA, and mrpA) among these isolates were 96.15%, 88.46%, 80.77%, and 69.23%, respectively. This study demonstrates that multidrug resistance P. mirabilis harbors multiple virulence genes.

Keywords

• P. mirabilis
• Virulence genes
• Antibiotics resistant
• Zakho city