Molecular detection of blaNDM and blaVIM in clinically isolated multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli in Pakistan.

Metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) producing Escherichia coli are an emerging and serious threat to public health sector around the globe. MBL are spreading via plasmids to the host pathogens and produce resistance against carbapenems and left limited or no treatment option. Therefore, we designed this study to determine the dissemination of MBL producing E. coli in our locality. E. coli (n=100) were collected from various clinical samples from different tertiary care hospitals, Faisalabad. Microbes were sub-cultured on MacConkey and UTI Chromo Select agar. Bacteria were identified on the basis of culture characteristics and biochemically confirmed by API 20E. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, carbapenemase and MBL was performed as per CLSI 2018 guidelines. Molecular identification of MBL genes were performed using specific primers by PCR. Of 100 E. coli, majority of them isolated from urine (n=55) followed by pus (n=23) and blood (n=22). Antibiogram displayed that all the E. coli were resistant to β-lactam drugs including carbapenems followed by 76% to ciprofloxacin and 60% to amikacin. Among these, 81% were MBL producers. Molecular characterization revealed that 18.4% were blaNDM and 15.3% were blaVIM producers. This study concluded that there is high prevalence of MBL producing E. coli in our clinical settings.