ABSTRACT
Purpose: Escherichia coli is a common pathogen causing community- and hospital-acquired infections. The infections caused by the Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) enzymes-producing E. coli hinder antibiotic treatment. Materials and Methods: Plasmid DNA samples were subjected to PCR specifi c for TEM, SHV and CTX-M genes obtained from 110 E. coli strains isolated from hospitalized patients, healthy individuals and environment in Vellore, South India. Results: Among the 110 isolates tested, 21.8% were positive for TEM and 2.7% positive for SHV and 91.8% positive for CTX-M. The proportion of CTX-M positive E. coli was not statistically different between the study groups. Nineteen of 20 strains were CTX-M-15 type and the other was CTX-M-14 type. The phylogenetic analysis of 19 strains clustered with the pandemic CTX-M-15-ST131 strain, indicating this as an evolving global problem for antibiotic therapy. The geomapping of samples indicated ‘hotspot’ areas of healthy individuals, patients and the environmental samples. Conclusion: The spatial presentation of GIS mapping allowed identifi cation of clustering among patients and healthy individuals and contaminated environmental points.
ABSTRACT
We investigated the faecal carriage of extended spectrum β‑lactamases (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli in different groups of human subjects and in the environment. A total of 363 E. coli strains were isolated from stool samples of patients (n = 77), healthy subjects (n = 170) and from different environmental samples (n = 116). A total of 124 ESBL producing E. coli strains were isolated in this study. The frequency of ESBL producing E. coli was found to be highest (60.3%) among the strains isolated from patients, followed by healthy individuals (38%) and the environment (10.5%). The environment was observed to have a very low number of ESBL producing E. coli.