Association between Beta-lactam Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence Factors in AmpC Producing Clinical Strains of P. aeruginosa

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of IMP and OXA genes in clinical strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) that are carriers of the ampC gene. METHODS: In this study, 105 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected. Antibiotic resistance patterns were determined using the disk diffusion method. The strains carrying AmpC enzymes were characterized by a combination disk method. Multiplex-PCR was used to identify resistance and virulence genes, chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between variables. RESULTS: Among 105 isolates of P. aeruginosa, the highest antibiotic resistance was to cefotaxime and aztreonam, and the least resistance was to colictin and ceftazidime. There were 49 isolates (46.66%) that showed an AmpC phenotype. In addition, the frequencies of the resistance genes were; OXA48 gene 85.2%, OXA199, 139 3.8%, OXA23 3.8%, OXA2 66.6%, OXA10 3.8%, OXA51 85.2% and OXA58 3.8%. The IMP27 gene was detected in 9 isolates (8.57%) and the IMP3.34 was detected in 11 isolates (10.47%). Other genes detected included; lasR (17.1%), lasB (18%) and lasA (26.6%). There was a significant relationship between virulence factors and the OX and IMP genes (p ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION: The relationship between antibiotic resistance and virulence factors observed in this study could play an important role in outbreaks associated with P. aeruginosa infections.