ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE OF
ESCHERICHIA COLI
ISOLATED
FROM URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS PATIENTS IN THREE IRAQI
GOVERNORATES DURING 2011- 2012: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
1
*Hawraa A. A. Al-Dahhan, 2Esraa Sameer Muhana, 3Ali Abdul Hussein Al-Fatlawy
1
*Dr. Assis. Prof., 2Ass. Researcher and 3M.Sc. Lecturer,
Kufa University/Collage of Science/Lab. Investagation.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted into three Iraqi governorates (Baghdad,
Babylon, Al-qadysia) during two years (2011-2012) , in which a total of
2162 urine specimens were collected from out and in patient with
urinary tract infection. Babylon city appeared to be the high percent of
E.coli isolated during 2011 (68.4) and 2012 (68.8) followed by
AL-qadysia (63%, 65.1%) and Baghdad (50.7, 60%), respectively. In
Baghdad high E.coli isolate (25.2%) in (41-50) age group, while in
Babylon and in al-qadysia the high E.coli isolated in age group (21-30)
in aperecent 20.9% and 20.8% , respectivly. baghdad show a high
e.coli isolate (25.3%) in (41-50) age group , while babylon and al-
qadysia appeared in (1-10) and (21-30) in apercentes 12.8% and 20.5% respectivly. Females
show a high perecent of isolate than male during the tow years in three cities. In Baghdad the
highest resistance of e.coli appeared to nitrofuranton (45.1%) and cotrimoxazol (45.1%)
during 2011, while e.coli appered high resistance to cn (34.4%) ctr (22.8%) and ctp (20.3%)
during 2012. E.coli isolated from babylon govornorate hospital during 2011 found to be the
high resistance to ampicillin (24.2%), while the high resistance to amx (30.3%) and amp
(29.4%) during 2011. The antibiogram of E.coli isolated from al-qadysia governorate hospital
during 2011 and 2012 appeared high resistance to cip (15.1%). Amx(3.1%) and ctx(0.8%)
show less antibiotic resistance by E.coli during 2011 and 2012.
KEYWORDS: E.coli, urinary tract infections, antibiotic resistance.
7105 – 2277 ISSN Research Article . 257 -246 Volume 5, Issue 7,
*Corresponding Author Dr. Hawraa A. A. Al-Dahhan
Dr. Assis. Prof. Kufa
University/Collage of
Science/Lab. Investagation. Article Received on
10 May 2016,
Revised on 30 May 2016, Accepted on 20 June 2016
INTRODUCTION
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections (Foxman,
2002), causing significant morbidity and mortality and costing the healthcare system of the
United States well over a billion dollars annually (Russo & Johnson, 2003).They can involve
any age group and are often followed by recurrences which increase the risk of long term
kidney lesions. UTI is nearly 10 times more common in females than in males (except in
elderly males) and affects 10% to 20% of all females at least once Urinary infections are
frequently caused by enterobacteria. UTIs result from ascending infection by a single
gram-negative, enteric bacterium, such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Enterobacter,
Pseudomonas, or Serratia. E. coli is responsible for about 70% to 80% of all the
uropathogens (Peterson et al., 2007).
Escherichia coli occupying the first place in their etiology. Most community-acquired UTIs
are due to uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) infections (Donnenberg & Welch, 1996). UPEC
(Uropathogenic E. coli) is one of the main causes of urinary tract infections. It is part of the
normal flora in the gut and can be introduced many ways. In particular for females, the
direction of wiping after defecation (wiping back to front) can lead to fecal contamination of
the urogenital orifices. Anal sex can also introduce this bacteria into the male urethra, and in
switching from anal to vaginal intercourse the male can also introduce UPEC to the female
urogenital system. For more info see databases at the end of the article or UPEC
pathogenicity (Mittelman et al.,1997).
UPEC are uniquely endowed with various virulence traits, enabling them to survive and grow
in urine and other extraintestinal environments. The abilities of UPEC to grow
extraintestinally may enable them to cause a variety of diseases, not just urinary tract ones. In
case of E. coli, the epidemiological, experimental and clinical studies have established the
role of multiple virulence factors of E. coli like adhesions operative through type-I fimbriae
and P fimbriae, O serotypes, K1 capsule, serum resistance, hemolysins, cytotoxic nectrotizing
factor (CNF) and siderophores (enterochelin and aerobactin) in relation to uncomplicated and
complicated UTIs (Lee et al.,2007).
The selection and spreading of the strains resistant to the antibiotics is a clinical aspect of
great importance in the present period, requiring the continual monitoring of this fenomenon
complicated UTIs are anatomic defects, vesicouretic reflux (VUR),obstruction, surgery,
metabolic diseases like diabetes mellitus and generalized immunosuppression especially in
patients of organ transplant (Tenea and Dorabat, 2008). Catheterization of urinary tract is one
of the most common factor which predisposes the host to complicated UTIs (Bobos et al.,
2010).
In this study we performed a local surveillance search involving 3 various hospitals in 3
different governorate in Iraq from 2011 to 2012 in order to compare the results relating to
the antibiotic resistance of E.coli isolated from patients with UTI in this period.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients and specimens collection
This study was conducted into three Iraqi governorates (Baghdad, Babylon, Al-qadysia)
during two years(2011-2012), in which a total of 2162 urine specimens were collected from
out and in patient with urinary tract infection (most data obtained from hospital). Specimens
were collected with their medical record reviewed for each patients which including name,
age, gender, address and data of collection . All specimens were incubated into macConkey
agar, blood agar plates and incubated at 37c under aerobic conditions.
Identification of bacteria
The bacteria identify according to the diagnostic producers recommended by macfaddin
(2000) and Mims et. al. (2008). the identification of bacteria as established according to the
culture and morphological characteristic, including to the shape of colonies, lactose
fermentation or non-lactose fermenter, appearance pigment production. etc. Morphological &
biochemical test include the catalase test, oxidase test, indole production test, mp. vp.,
Simmon citrate test, triple sugar iron agar test.
Antibiotic susceptibility test
The susceptibility test of E.coli was carried out against antibiotic using the disk diffusion
method on MHA (Bauer et al, 1966).two- ml of brain heart infusion broth have been
inoculated with an isolated colony of the test bacteria and incubated for 24 hours at 37c. After
that, the turbidity of bacterial suspension has been adjusted turbidity of McFarland (0.5)
standard tube. The resulting zone of inhibition have been measured by using a ruler and
compared with zones of inhibition determined by CLSI (2012) and to decide the
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Isolation and Identification of E. coli
Table (1) show the distribution of E.coli isolated from three different hospitals in three
different Iraqi cities during 2011 and 2012. In which Babylon city appear the high percent of
E.coli isolated during 2011 (68.4) and 2012 (68.8) followed by AL-qadysia (63%, 65.1%)
and Baghdad (50.7, 60%) respectively.
The high percent of E.coli isolated from Babylon and Al-qadysia compared with Baghdad
may be due to the high number of hospitals in Baghdad in which the patients may be
attenuated to there and in this study data obtained from one hospital. In the other hand, the
result in this study show increase of E.coli isolated in 2012 than 2011 in all three cities (table
1), these may be due to the increase antibiotic resistance of this bacteria by increased use of
antibiotics.
UTIs account for more than 7 million visits to physicians’ offices and well over 1 million
hospital admissions in the United States annually (Stam and Hooton, 1993). French
epidemiologic studies evaluated its annual incidence at 53,000 diagnoses per million persons
per year, which represents 1.05% to 2.10% of the activity of general practitioners (Pinson et
al., 1994). In the United States, the annual number of diagnoses of pyelonephritis in females
was estimated to be 250,000 (Meyrier, 2007).
Further, Rodrigues-Siek et al., (2005) revealed that UPEC and APEC have similarities in
their serogroups, virulence genotypes and assignments to phylogenetic groups, supporting the
hypothesis that poultry may be a vehicle for E. coli capable of causing human urinary tract
disease.
Although it is widely accepted that the source of E. coli causing most UTIs is the colonic
flora of affected individuals (Salyers & Whitt, 1994), there is no consensus as to the source of
the urovirulent clones inhabiting the colon. Although some UTIs might involve sexual
transmission (Johnson & Delavari, 2002) or exposure to the excreta of dogs with UTIs
(Johnson et al., 2000), the major source of these urovirulent clones is unknown.
Alzahrani and Gherbawy(2011). Reveled that the overuse of antibiotics in human medicine
and agriculture is a growing concern for public health. Overuse combined with inadequate
encoding antibiotic resistance in surface waters, river sediments and the feces of wild animals
exposed to waste residuals. The multiple resistance of bacteria against antibiotics resulted
from the fact that domestic and industrial waste were emitted into threw away without
clarifying and so affect the underground water resources.
Table (1): The distribution of E.coli isolated from three different hospital in three different cities during 2011 and 2012
2012 No.of Samples 2011 No.of Samples
Region E.coli E.coli
% No. % No. 60.0 241 416 50.7 226 446 Baghdad 68.8 119 173 68.4 91 133 Babylon 65.1 244 375 63.0 385 619 AL-Qadysia
3.2 distrtbution of E.coli according to age group and sex
The patients age in this study organized into sex groups(table2 and 3). Table (2) show the
distribution of e.coli, isolated from three different cities in three different hospitals during
2011 according to age group. In this table appear to be high e.coli isolate (25.2%) in (41-50)
age group. While in babylon and in al-qadysia the high e.coli isolated in age group (21-30) in
aperecent 20.9% and 20.8%, respectivly.
Table (3) illustrate the distribution of e.coli isolated from three different cities in three
different hospital during 2012. In which baghdad show a high e.coli isolate (25.3%) in
(41-50) age group, while babylon and al-qadysia appeared in (1-10) and (21-30) in apercentes
12.8% and 20.5% respectivly.
The distribution of E.coli isolated from UTI patient in three cities according to sex during
2011 and 2012 where appeared in table(4) and in figure(1_a) and figure (1_b). in both figures
females show a high perecent of isolate than male during the tow years.
The incidence of UTI is higher among females, in whom it commonly occurs in an
anatomically normal urinary tract. Conversely, in males and children, UTI generally reveals a
urinary tract lesion that must be identified by imaging and must be treated to suppress the
cause of infection and prevent recurrence (Meyrier, 2007). Reinfections and relapses are
common in women who develop uncomplicated UTI. Understanding the pathogenesis of UTI
[image:5.595.105.486.210.299.2]More than 70% of the tested strains were isolated from urinary tract infections in women. The
same situation was reported by many other authors (Akram et al., 2007; Hori et al., 2007).
The increased incidence of the urinary infections in women is conditioned by favouring
anatomic factors, by hormonal changes and by the urodynamic disturbances occurring with
age (Hatieganu et al. 2010).
Our study consistent with other studies (Kang et al. 2011; Ghadiri et al. 2012) they have
beenextensively reported that adult women have a higher prevalence of UTI than men
because of anatomic and physical situations.
Table (2). the distribution of E.coli isolated from three different cities in three different hospitals during 2011 according to age group
AL-Qadysia Babylon
Baghdad
Age group %
NO. % NO. % NO. 11.4 44 13.2 12 5.3 12 1---10 15.6 60 14.3 13 14.6 33 11---20 20.8 80 20.9 19 18.6 42 21---30 19.7 76 16.5 15 13.7 31 31---40 19.2 74 17.6 16 25.2 57 41---50 13.2 51 17.6 16 22.6 51 -60 50----385 226 Total
Table (3): the distribution of E.coli isolated from three different cities in three different hospital during 2012 according to age group
Age group Baghdad Babylon AL-Qadysia
NO. % NO. % NO. %
1---10 21 8.7 26 21.8 36 14.8
11---20 43 17.8 46 13.4 48 19.7
21---30 32 13.3 22 18.5 50 20.5
31---40 33 13.7 17 14.3 47 19.3
41---50 61 25.3 20 16.8 31 12.7
51---60 51 21.2 18 15.1 32 13.1
total 241 119 244
Table (4): The distribution of E.coli isolated from three different cities in three different hospitals UTI patient according to sex during (2011 -2012)
Region
2011 2012
E.coli E.coli
Total No. of E.coli
Male Female Total No.
of E.coli
Male Female
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Baghdad 226 100 44.3 126 55.8 241 93 38.9 148 61.1
Babylon 91 38 41.8 53 58.2 119 53 44.5 66 55.5
[image:6.595.115.481.306.437.2]2011
Figure(1-a)The distribution of E.coli isolated from three different cities in three different hospitals UTI patient according to sex during(2011)
2012
Figure(1-b)The distribution of E.coli isolated from three different cities in three different hospitals UTI patient according to sex during(2012)
3.3 Antibiotic resistance of E.coli
Table(5) and figure (2) show antibiogram of E.coli isolated from baghdad governorate
hospital during 2011 and 2012. in which the highest resistance of E.coli appeared to
(38.5%) and ampicillin (21.7%) during 2011, while E.coli appered high resistance to CN
(34.4%) CTR (22.8%) and CTP(20.3%) during 2012. E.coli show less resistance to TOP
(7.1%) and NIT(1.7%) during 2011 and 2012 respectively. Fig.(4)shows the antibiotic
resistance of E.coli to antibiotic on MHA.
Table(5) and fig.(3). Show antibiogram of E.coli isolated from babylon govornorate hospital
during 2011 and 2012 E.coli found to be the high resistance to ampicillin (24.2%),
amoxicillin (23.1%) and CN (23.1%) during 2011 while high resistance to AMX (30.3%),
AMP (29.4%) and CN (18.5%) during 2011. E.coli appeared less resistance to CTR (9.9%)
and COT (11.8%) during 2011 and 2012, respictivly in babylon city.
The antibiogram of E.coli isolated from al-qadysia governorate hospital during 2011 and
2012 were showing in table (5) and figure (4). Since E.coli appeared high resistance to CIP
(15.1%) during 2011. and 24.2%, 17.2% and 15.2% CTR, NA and NT, respectivly.
AMX(3.1%) and CTX(0.8%) show less antibiotic resistance by E.coli during 2011 and 2012.
Quinolones are one of the most widely used antibiotics in the community for the treatment of
UTI and it is this unfortunate excessive use of the agent that has led to a considerable and
worrying increase in the rate of E. coli resistant isolates in many countries(NickEL, 2007).
The increase in quinolone resistance among community- acquired urinary E. coli is a cause of
concern. Fosfomycin, mecillinam and nitrofurantoin have preserved their overall in vitro
efficacy and represent effective options when dealing empirically with these common
conditions.
Worldwide, quinolones are being used as the most common antimicrobial for all UTIs, both
complicated and. An appropriate antibiotic for treating UTI must be bactericidal and conform
to the general specifications: firstly, its pharmacology must include, in case of oral
administration, rapid absorption and attainment of peak serum concentrations; second, its
excretion must be predominantly renal; thered; it must achieve high concentrations in the
renal or prostate tissue; Finally, it must cover the usual spectrum of enterobacteria with
reasonable chance of being effective on an empirical basis(Meyrier, 2007).
The highest resistance rate of E. coli isolate which was obtained from urine samples was
against nalidixic acid followed by cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and ampicillin, respectively
as a long time in our hospital. In this study, amikacin and imipenem had thewidest coverage
against E. coli isolates (97.5%).
In a recent surveillance study in Iran, Ahsan et al. (2011) reported that the highest resistance
rate of E.coli isolates which were obtained from various clinical specimens at 11 hospitals
was against tetracycline followed by amoxicillin and penicillin, respectively.
Table (3): the resistance to antibiotics during three different cities in three different hospital in (UTI) patient during 2011-2012.
Figure (2): Antibiogram of E.coli isolated from Baghdad governorate hospital during 2011-2012.
Antibiotics Baghdad Babylon AL-Qadysia
Types Symbol 2011(226) 2012(241) 2011(91) 2012(119) 2011(385) 2012(244)
NO. % NO. % NO. % NO. % NO. % NO. %
Ampicillin AMP 49 21.7 21 8.7 22 24.2 35 29.4 12 3.1 9 3.7
Amoxicillin AMX 5 2.2 19 7.92 21 23.1 36 30.3 17 4.4 19 7.8
Cephatexin CTX 18 8 46 19.1 11 12.1 18 15.1 13 3.4 2 0.8
Naledix acid NA 40 17.7 43 17.8 15 16.5 19 16.0 39 10.1 42 17.2
Gentamycin CN 90 39.8 83 34.4 21 23.1 22 18.5 58 15.1 33 13.5
Nitrofunt NIT 102 45.1 4 1.7 14 15.4 17 14.3 40 10.4 37 15.2
Cotrimaxazol COT 102 45.1 27 11.2 12 13.2 14 11.8 18 4.7 14 5.7
Ceftriaxone CTR 39 17.3 55 22.8 9 9.9 15 12.7 42 10.9 59 24.2
Ciprofloxacin CIP 87 38.5 49 20.3 14 15.4 20 16.8 61 15.8 35 14.3
[image:9.595.23.570.244.664.2]Figure (3): Antibiogram of E.coli isolated from Babylone governorate hospital during 2011 and 2012.
Figure (4) Antibiotic resistance of E.coli isolated from UTI on MHA medium
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