Identification of Genes Coding Aminoglycoside Modifying Enzymes inE. coliof UTI Patients in India
This study is to probe the pattern of antibiotic resistance against aminoglycosides and its mechanism inE. coliobtained from patients from Chennai, India. Isolation and identification of pathogens were done on MacConkey agar. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing was done by disc diffusion test. The identification of genes encoding aminoglycoside modifying enzymes was done by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Out of 98 isolates, 71 (72.45%) isolates were identified asE. coliand the remaining 27 (27.55%) as other bacteria. Disc diffusion method results showed a resistance level of 72.15% for streptomycin, 73.4% for gentamicin, 63.26% for neomycin, 57.14% for tobramycin, 47.9% for netilmicin, and 8.16% for amikacin inE. coli. PCR screening showed the presence of four genes, namely,rrs,aacC2,aacA-aphD, andaphA3, in their plasmid DNA. The results point towards the novel mechanism of drug resistance inE. colifrom UTI patients in India as they confirm the presence of genes encoding enzymes that cause resistance to aminoglycoside drugs. This could be an alarm for drug prescription to UTI patients.