Infection and Drug Resistance (Dec 2019)
Diversity of Virulence Genes in Multidrug Resistant Escherichia coli from a Hospital in Western China
Abstract
Xue Li,1,* Qi Luo,1,* Xinyu Yu,1 Yanling Zhang,1 Xiaoyue Cao,1 Dan Li2,3 1Non-Coding RNA and Drug Discovery Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Medical Laboratory Science, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, People’s Republic of China; 3Sichuan Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Prevention and Control Technology of Veterinary Drug Residue in Animal-Origin Food, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Dan LiSchool of Medical Laboratory Science, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86 28 62739520Email [email protected]: Escherichia coli strains are the most commonly isolated bacteria in hospitals. The normally harmless commensal E. coli can become a highly adapted pathogen, capable of causing various diseases both in healthy and immunocompromised individuals, by acquiring a combination of mobile genetic elements. Our aim was to characterize E. coli strains from a hospital in western China to determine their virulence and antimicrobial resistance potential.Methods: A total of 97 E. coli clinical isolates were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College from 2015 to 2016. Microbiological methods, PCR, and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were used in this study.Results: The frequency of occurrence of the virulence genes fimC, irp2, fimH, fyuA, lpfA, hlyA, sat, and cnf1 in the E. coli isolates was 93.81, 92.78, 91.75, 84.54, 41.24, 32.99, 28.86, and 7.22%, respectively. Ninety-five (97.9%) isolates carried two or more different virulence genes. Of these, 44 (45.4%) isolates simultaneously harbored five virulence genes, 24 (24.7%) isolates harbored four virulence genes, and 17 (17.5%) isolates harbored six virulence genes. In addition, all E. coli isolates were multidrug resistant and had a high degree of antimicrobial resistance.Conclusion: These results indicate a high frequency of occurrence and heterogeneity of virulence gene profiles among clinical multidrug resistant E. coli isolates. Therefore, appropriate surveillance and control measures are essential to prevent the further spread of these isolates in hospitals.Keywords: Escherichia coli, clinical isolates, virulence genes, antimicrobial resistance, MDR
