Prevalence of PMQR genes in E. coli and Klebsiella spp. isolated from North-West of Morocco.

OBJECTIVES

Plasmid mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes are increasingly detected worldwide. However, in Morocco a few studies have been carried out. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of these determinants among Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. isolated from North-West of Morocco.

METHODS

The prevalence of PMQR genes was investigated among 398 E. coli and 118 Klebsiella spp. clinical isolates collected between 2012 and 2015 from North-West of Morocco. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by disc diffusion assay and minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of quinolone were determined by micro-dilution. The screening of qnrA, qnrB, qnrC qnrS, Aac(6')-Ib and qepA genes were done by PCR, DNA sequencing and RFLP analyses.

RESULTS

Among 398 E. coli and 118 Klebsiella spp. analyzed, 51% of E. coli and 61% of Klebsiella spp. were multidrug resistant (MDR). For the E. coli group, qnrB, qnrS, and aac(6')-Ib-cr genes were detected in 05.02%, 01.50%, and 13.81%, respectively. These determinants were more prevalent in Klebsiella spp. group, hence they represented 11.86%, 05.93% and 18.64% respectively. QnrA, qnrC and qepA were absent in this study. For aac(6')Ib determinant, 84.41% were belong to the Aac(6') Ib-cr variant while for qnrB and qnrS the most determined variants were qnrB1, B6, B16, B42, B66 and qnrS1, S4, S7. Different plasmid sizes were detected in PMQR strains.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study conducted in North-West of Morocco and shows important dissemination of MDR and PMQR among Enterobacteriaceae.