Phylogeny and Detection of blaTEM, blaSHV, blaCTX-M Genes in Escherichia coli Isolates from Patients with Urinary Tract Infections in Taif Hospitals, Saudi Arabia

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) represent one of the most common diseases that are encountered in clinical practice and are caused mainly by Escherichia coli (E. coli).

Aims: The objectives of this study were to identify and compare the blaTEM, blaSHV and blaCTX-M as marker of beta-lactamase genes in E. coli strains isolated from patients with UTIs collecting from King Abdul-Aziz hospital in Taif region, Saudi Arabia.

Study Design: In vitro experimental and molecular study.

Place and Duration of Study: Genetic engineering and biotechnology unit, Taif University, from September, 2016 to November, 2017.

Methodology: Beta-lactame antibiotics are prescribed in most infectious disease including UTIs. Twenty one isolates identified as E. coli using microbial identification and confirmed by 16S rDNA.

Results: These isolates were susceptible to Imipenem (100%), Ampicillin (90%) and Cefoxitin, but resistant to Cefepime (38%). Existance of selected bla-genes (blaTEM, blaSHV and blaCTX-M) were detected in the 21 isolates by PCR. Moreover, phylogeny tree was drawn based on 16S rDNA sequence. The results of this study show significant differences in susceptibility to different beta-lactam antibiotics among the bla-genes in E. coli isolates.

Conclusion: Therefore, our findings instead of our data provide some new epidemiological information about the clonal nature of E. coli isolated from patients with UTIs in Taif region, KSA.