Abstract

Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are pathogens frequently involved in urinary tract infections with high epidemic potential. The increase and spread resistance of these microbes to broad spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics are usually reported and is a real public health concern in Côte d’Ivoire but information on genetic variants and intragenic mutations encoding these resistances are scarce. The aim of this study is to characterize genetic variants and describe the intragenic mutations underlying resistance to broad-spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics in uropathogen E. coli and K. pneumoniae in HKB and CHR hospitals with different epidemiological facies in Côte d’Ivoire. 39 strains comprising 30 of E. coli and 9 strains of K. pneumoniae were isolated from which DNA was extracted, amplified and sequenced. ESBLs genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction in 58.8 % of strain analysis. No significant difference was observed between ESBL from HKB and CHR hospitals although HKB and CHR sites present 50 and 56.8% of ESBL respectively. Nucleotide sequences subjected to BLASTn for sequences similarity and homology revealed diversity of resistance genes with dominance of the gene encoding the extended-spectrum β-lactamase CTX-M-15 and the emergence of a new blaTEM-9 gene in Côte d'Ivoire. The significant co-expression of ESBLs might impact 3^rd generation cephalosporin multi-resistance among pathogenic bacteria infecting patient population. Routine antibiogram practice could guide the choice of optimal antibiotic therapy for successful treatment and delay the occurrence of multidrug resistance in enterobacterial infections.

Key words: Urinary tract infection, extended-spectrum β-lactamase, gene variants, mutations, antibiotic resistance, Côte d’Ivoire.