Molecular epidemiology and virulence factors profiles associated with antibiotic susceptibility of proteus mirabilis isolated from urinary tract infections

The study included the collection of 127 urine samples from patients with urinary tract infections at Al-Ramadi Teaching Hospital in Iraq-Anbar during the period from June to September 2022. Proteus mirabilis isolates were diagnosed based on their phenotypic characteristics and biochemical tests, about 30 isolates diagnosed as P. mirabilis were obtained after they were confirmed using the VITEK-2 compact system and the specific initiator of the 16SrRNA gene using the PCR technique. The results of the antibiotic sensitivity test showed that all P. mirabilis isolates were multidrug-resistance (MDR), were highly resistant to Amikacin, Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and Cefotaxime 30 (100%), Penicillin 25 (83.33%), and Cefepime, Imipenem 20 (66.66%), Trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole 15 (50%), Ceftriaxone 12 (40%), Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin, Meropenem, and Nalidixic acid 10 (33.33%). The results of molecular detection of genes (mrpA, pmfA, zapA, and ureG) associated with virulence factors showed that isolates of P. mirabilis possess them by (100%) respectively. One of the goals of this study was to identify the genetic relatedness among isolates via Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR, the results revealed that all P. mirabilis isolates showed amplification and formation of bundles with a similarity level of 97.4%.