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Prevalence and spread of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli including ST131 in different patient populations in the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine.

AIM
To investigate the prevalence and genetic background of Escherichia coli collected from different patient populations in the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine.


MATERIALS & METHODS
Susceptibility testing was performed on 1651 E. coli isolates with broth microdilution. Their genetic background was determined using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing.


RESULTS
The prevalence of resistance varied significantly between the populations. Approximately 10% of the E. coli isolates were multidrug-resistant and/or a β-lactamase producer. The most prevalent extended-spectrum β-lactamase type was CTX-M-15 and ST131 was the most prevalent multilocus sequence typing type. RESULTS from pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of the ST131 isolates indicate the spread of these isolates in the Euroregion.


CONCLUSION
E. coli ST131 was the most prevalent sequence type in our Euroregional study. It is essential to control the spread of these resistant strains (e.g., with infection-control policies, antibiotic stewardship programs and antibiotic resistance surveillance). In this way we could observe shifts in the prevalence of resistance of the E. coli population and act accordingly.