Biofilm Formation and its Correlation with Antimicrobial Resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Sharkia, 44511, Egypt

2 Directorate of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig, Sharkia, Egypt

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing a wide range of diseases in humans and animals. The increase, emergence, and spread of antimicrobial resistance among K. pneumoniae are the most important health problems worldwide. The production of biofilms by bacterial pathogens exacerbates the complexity of bacterial resistance and prolongs the treatment time. This study analyzed the possible relationship between antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation in K. penumoniae isolated from different sources. Eleven K. pneumoniae isolates were recovered from 100 samples comprising 6 (12%) from chicken respiratory organs, 3 (12%) from meat products and 2 (8%) from milk products. All K. pneumonia isolates were resistant to ampicillin and amoxacillin-clavulinic acid (100%) followed by cefepime (72.72%), tetracycline, trimethoprime and trimethoprime/sulphamethaxole (54.54% each), while they were sensitive to imipenem (82 %) followed by aztreonam (55%) then amikacin and azithromycin (45% each). It is noteworthy that 10 (90.90%) K. pneumonia isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR) and their multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) indices were far greater than 0.2 (0.846- 9.307). Of note, 81.81% of K. pneumonia isolates could produce biofilms, those categorized as strong (33.33%), moderate (22.22%) or weak (44.44%) biofilm producers, whereas 18.18% of the isolates were non-biofilm producers. Interestingly, resistance pattern of K. pneumoniae recovered from chicken source was higher than those from milk and meat products. Moreover, there is a non-significant (P ˃ 0.05) positive correlation (r= 0.38) between the antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation in K. pneumoniae isolates recovered from animal sources. In conclusion, our results emphasized that biofilm formation may be an important factor that influences the antimicrobial resistance in K. pneumoniae, and strict measures of antimicrobial usage should be done in both animal husbandry and humans globally.
 

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