Molecular Study of Bacterial Pathogens Isolated From Haemodialysis Patients

Abstract

Sixty-two bacterial pathogens were isolated from 201 blood culture specimens collected from chronic haemodialysis patients. All patients were suffering from signs and symptoms of bacteraemia which is a frequent complication associated with tunnelled, cuffed, permanent catheters (PCs). The study aimed to use molecular technique to diagnose bacterial pathogens isolated from haemodialysis patients. Identification and Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of commonly used antibiotics were determined by VITEK 2 Compact System and confirmed by amplification of species�specific primers targeted to the 16S rRNA gene for Staphylococcus epidermidis, E. faecalis, E. faecium, Staphylococcus aureus and P. aeruginosa. Class 1 and 2 integron integrase (intI) genes were amplified to determine whether integrons were present in all isolates genome. The amplification of genes was carried out by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The result showed that PCR assays employing 16S rRNA primer pair produced DNA products of the predicted size of 34 of 35 Staphylococcus epidermidis, 5 of 6 E. faecium and all E. faecalis, P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The result showed that class 1 intI gene was found in 54 (87.1%) of the isolates and the integron harbouring isolates were significantly more resistant to Erythromycin (54.2%), Clindamycin (31.3%), Ciprofloxacin (16.7%) and Rifampicin (6.3%). The class 2 intI gene was not found in these studied strains.