The influence of integrons on multidrug resistant Acinetobacter spp. isolated from environment and clinical samples

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health. Recently Acinetobacter has been identified as an important bacteria to the acquisition of antibiotic resistance. The main objective of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance in clinical and environmental Acinetobacter isolates and to determine the relation between antibiotic resistance and the presence of integrons. In total 83 clinical and 62 environmental samples were collected. Clinical samples were urine, skin, blood, sputum, wound, respiratory discharges and environmental samples were rhizosphere of wheat and corn and water (mud and swamps). Acinetobacter isolates were authenticated by molecular method (16SrRNA) and their antibiotic sensitivity was assessed using disk diffusion method. Furthermore, the presence of different classes of integrons (I-III) was evaluated using specific primers. The results obtained indicated that 56 and 34 Acinetobacter were isolated from clinical and environmental samples respectively. Clinical and environmental Acinetobacter isolates showed resistant characters against Cefotaxime, Ceftriaxone and Polymyxin B, Tetracycline, Ampicillin/Sulbactam respectively. In addition, 92.9% and 94.1% of clinical and environmental isolates were Multiple drug Resistant (MDR) group. Frequency of the presence of class I-III Integrons in clinical isolates was 48.2%, 9.0% and 7.1% and in environmental isolates was 41.2%, 5.9% and 8.8%. This study illustrated the resistant characters of clinical and environmental Acinetobacter to Meropenem and Imipenem. In addition, we found significant correlation between Cefotaxime and Ceftriaxone resistance among all isolates. Besides, class I -II Integrons existed simultaneously in the isolates and probably carriage of these integrons induced drug resistant character.