<p>Prevalence of Virulence Genes and Their Association with Antimicrobial Resistance Among Pathogenic <em>E. coli</em> Isolated from Egyptian Patients with Different Clinical Infections</p>

Abstract

Introduction: Escherichia (E.) coli can cause intestinal and extra-intestinal infections which ranged from mild to life-threatening infections. The severity of infection is a product of many factors including virulence properties and antimicrobial resistance. Objectives: To determine the antibiotic resistance pattern, the distribution of virulence factors and their association with one another and with some selected resistance genes. Methods: Virulence properties were analyzed phenotypically while antimicrobial susceptibility was tested by Kirby-Bauer agar disc diffusion method. In addition, 64 E. coli isolates were tested for 6 colicin genes, fimH, hlyA, traT, csgA, crl virulence genes and bla −CTX-M-15 , bla −oxa-2 , and bla −oxa-10 resistance genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli isolated from urine and blood samples represented a battery of virulence factors and resistance genes with a great ability to produce biofilm. Also, a significant association (P<0.05) among most of the tested colicin, virulence and resistance genes was observed. The observed associations indicate the importance and contribution of the tested factors in the establishment and the progress of infection especially with Extra-intestinal E. coli (ExPEC) which is considered a great challenging health problem. Conclusion: There is a need for studying how to control these factors to decrease the rate and the severity of infections. The relationship between virulence factors and resistance genes is complex and needs more studies that should be specific for each area.

Genetic Determinants of Resistance to Extended-Spectrum Cephalosporin and Fluoroquinolone in Escherichia coli Isolated from Diseased Pigs in the United States

“…In addition to the above-mentioned properties, IncF plasmids also possessed virulence genes which can contribute to the fitness of bacterial clones inside mammalian hosts. For example, the traT gene related to serum resistance was found on every bla CTX-M -harboring IncF plasmid, except for IncF (F24:A-:B1), and this gene has been consistently associated with urinary tract infections and sepsis in humans (71)(72)(73)(74). Similarly, hlyF (hemolysin), iutA (iron uptake), and ompT (outer membrane protease) genes present on some of the bla CTX-M -IncF plasmids are very commonly found in avian pathogenic E. coli (75).…”

Antibiotic Susceptibility, Virulome, and Clinical Outcomes in European Infants with Bloodstream Infections Caused by Enterobacterales

“…By contrast, a positive correlation has been shown between AMR and virulence with the use of other antibiotics. In particular, uropathogenic strains of E. coli carrying the blaCTX-M-15 resistance gene also harbored more colV, colE2-E9, colIa-Ib, hlyA, and csgA genes as well as the blaOXA-2 beta lactamase was correlated with increased expression of colM, colB, colE, and crl genes [44]. Prophages are another mechanism that has been shown to be involved in both virulence and resistance diffusion through the spread of toxins to other resistant strains [45].…”

Genomic-based characterization of Enterococcus spp.: an emerging pathogen isolated from human gut

“…Sequence quality was assessed by FASTQC [7], [10] followed by online software https://epi2me.nanoporetech.com/work ow_instance. FASTA les were uploaded at RAST server for annotation, putative gene product identi cation [7,11].…”

“…Enterococcus is the main genera including 50 species that have probiotic properties, but many strains of enterococcus are known to cause disease in human as they are opportunistic pathogens. There is now an alarming increase of multidrug resistance among enterococci, mainly vancomycin resistance, more over they also have ability to transfer antibiotic and virulence genes [6].Whole genome sequencing is now becoming routine practice in many laboratories to characterize various genes related to antimicrobial resistance mainly in gram negative bacteria, very less data is available related to study of genome for antimicrobial resistance among gram positive bacteria [7]. Based upon this background its time of hour to do deep research on enterococcus virulence properties before using them as probiotic strains [8].…”