Frequency of Class 1 Integron in Escherichia Coli Strains Isolated from Patients with Urinary Tract Infections in North of Iran

BACKGROUND: Due to the importance of antibiotic resistance in E.coli and the possible role of integrons in creating of resistance, this study was performed to survey of class 1 integron in E. coli strains and their resistance to three routinely used antibiotics. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 100 strains of E. coli were isolated from patients with Urinary tract infection. After diagnosis of bacteria, genomes were extracted. Then, presence of integron class 1 was evaluated by using PCR. Antibiotic susceptibility testing method, the micro dilution broth was performed according to the standard CLSI2010. Data were analyzed using SPSS16 software. RESULT: Out of the total number of 100 E. coli cases, 22 cases (22%) had class 1 integron. Resistance against cotrimoxazol, cefixime and ciprofloxacin antibiotics were 67%, 34% and 34% respectively. In 22 E. coli cases positive for integron class1 gene, resistance against three antibiotics were 100%, 95.45% and 90.90% respectively, which is statistically significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Resistance level against antibiotics in samples containing class 1 integron were significantly higher than those lacking this gene, which may be confirm the present of class 1 integron in creation of clinical strains with resistance to this antibiotics. Using suitable antibiotics may be preventing transmission of resistance genes through integrons.