Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance patterns of diarrheagenic and uropathogenic Escherichia coli in Odisha, India

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of pathogenic Escherichia ( E.) coli causing diarrhea and urinary tract infection (UTI) in patients admitted for treatment in selected health care facilities in Odisha, an eastern Indian State.
Methods: A total of 189 rectal swabs from patients with diarrhea and 297 urine samples from patients with UTI were collected from selected health care facilities. E. coli isolates were phenotypically confirmed using MacConkey agar, MacConkey sorbitol agar and blood agar along with biochemical tests. These phenotypically confirmed E. coli isolates were investigated genotypically for known pathogenic E. coli via multiplex PCR. Finally, the pathogenic E. coli was subjected to antibiotic sensitivity test.
Results: Culture of 189 rectal swabs and 297 urine samples revealed 46 (24.3%) diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC) and 36 (12.1%) uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). PCR analysis of DEC identified 27 (14.3%) enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), 8 (4.2%) enteropathogenic E. coli, 10 (5.3%) enteroaggregative E. coli and 1 (0.5%) Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) in diarrhea patients and 5 (1.7%) ETEC, 7 (2.4%) enteroaggregative E. coli, 11 (3.7%) EHEC O157:H7 and 1 (0.3%) EHEC non-O157:H7 in UTI patients. DEC and UPEC exhibited multidrug resistance with a high rate of resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics. A high frequency of ETEC causing diarrhea, atypical enteropathogenic E. coli harboring the eae gene was found among children with acute diarrhea, and ETEC ( est⁺) and EHEC O157:H7 were detected in UTI patients along with high antibiotic resistance among DEC and UPEC were important findings.
Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the prevalence of DEC and UPEC in patients admitted to hospital in Odisha, India, revealing a high rate of antimicrobial resistance.

Keywords

Pathotype Escherichia coli / Diarrhea / Urinary tract infection (UTI) / Antibiogram / Odisha

Conflict of interest statement

The authors claim there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study receives no extramural funding.

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Authors’ contributions

Biswas S and Khuntia HK contributed to conception and designing of the manuscript. Critical revision of the manuscript along with supplementing materials for preparing the manuscript thoroughly was done by Ranjit M. All sorts of work related to sample collection from different hospitals and clinics of Odisha was done by Dixit S, Pattanaik SSS, Manna P, Routray S and Beuria J. The work of completing the manuscript was equally assisted by Pati S along with Bal M. All the authors agree with the content of the manuscript.

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