Outbreak of drug resistance Escherichia coli phylogenetic F group associated urinary tract infection

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Urinary tract infections are one of the most commonly associated human infectious diseases caused by the bacteria Escherichia coli. Escherichia coli is described as having a large number of virulence genes that enable drug resistance, which is a cause for great concern. Monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility is critical to determining the scope of the problem and selecting appropriate antimicrobial drugs. The current study aimed to identify the distribution of uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) based on genetic profiles and to determine resistance patterns among isolates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study employed biological correlations to study the patterns of antibiotic resistance and the distribution of phylogenetic groups of 118 isolates of E. coli and the relationship between them, which were isolated from three hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq. RESULTS: The results of phylogenetic analysis showed that phylogroup F was the most common group among E. coli isolates (37.3%), followed by phylogroups C (20.3%), B2 (15.3%), E (14.4%), UP (4.2%), A and D (3.4%), and B1 (1.7%). The majority of antibiotic resistance patterns were related to penicillin groups (80.5%) and the least to the sulfonamide groups (67.0%). 51.7%, 42.4%, and 1.7% of isolates were Extensive Drug Resistance (XDR), Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR), and Pan Drug Resistance (PDR), respectively. Antibiotic resistance was most commonly detected in group F (35.6%). CONCLUSION: Our observations revealed that the dominant phylogroup F had the highest prevalence of multi-drug resistance and extensive drug resistance among E. coli isolates. The newly identified phylogroups C, E, and F account for about 72.0% of the E. coli isolates. Such investigations should be conducted in other localities as well, in order to gain a better understanding of the pattern of antibiotic resistance patterns and the frequency of distinct phylogenetic groups.