Incidence of Antibiotic Resistance Transfer among Escherichia coli from Hospital Environment

Infections caused by antibiotic resistant organisms are difficult to treat. The aim of this study was to analyse dissemination of antibiotic resistance and resistant transfer in Escherichia coli from pregnant women. Forty one multi drug resistance strains of E. coli were isolated from the urine of pregnant women in Erode district. The isolates showed high resistant to tetracycline and ampicillin antibiotics. Evaluation of the isolates for their drug resistance revealed distinct antibiotic resistant pattern and showed the increasing dissemination risk of drug resistance especially tetracycline and ampicillin. The presence of a multi plasmid in both donor and transconjugants, but not in the recipients, provided physical evidence for the transfer of antibiotic resistance and also indicated that the drug resistance mediated by plasmids. Then the strains of transcojugants were assessed for plasmid curing by acridine orange. The data signify the presence of an undesirably high level of transferable antibiotic resistance in the healthy pregnant women.