Potentially Virulent Multi-Drug Resistant Escherichia fergusonii Isolated from Inanimate Surface in a Medical University: Omphisa fuscidentalis as an Alternative for Bacterial Virulence Determination

• Published in: Diagnostics (Basel) 2023-01, Vol.13 (2), p.279
• Main Authors: Ilsan, Noor Andryan, Yunita, Melda, Dewi, Nurul Kusuma, Irham, Lalu Muhammad, Sipriyadi, Nurfajriah, Siti, Inggraini, Maulin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Cellular telephones; College campuses; Escherichia fergusonii; Galleria mellonella; Hospitals; Microorganisms; multi-drug resistant; Nosocomial infections; Omphisa fuscidentalis; Phylogenetics; Statistical analysis; Virulence; virulent bacteria
• ISSN: 2075-4418; 2075-4418
• DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13020279

Multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria are becoming a worldwide problem due to limited options for treatment. Moreover, patients infected by MDR with highly virulent accessories are worsening the symptoms, even to the point of causing death. In this study, we isolated bacteria from 14 inanimate surfaces that could potentially be reservoirs for the spread of bacterial infections in the medical university. Blood agar media was used for bacterial isolation. The bacterial colony that showed hemolytic activities on each surface was tested for antimicrobial susceptibility against eight different antibiotics. We found that MDR bacterium, namely TB1, which was isolated from a toilet bowl, was non-susceptible to ampicillin, imipenem, chloramphenicol, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, gentamicin, and tetracycline. Another MDR bacterium isolated from the mobile phone screen of security officers, namely HSO, was resistant to chloramphenicol, gentamicin, tetracycline, and cefixime. An in vivo virulence test of bacterial isolates used larvae as an alternative to larvae for the infection model. A virulence test of TB1 in larvae revealed 20% survival in the bacterial density of 10 and 10 CFU/larvae; and 0% survival in the bacterial density of 10 CFU/larvae at 24 h after injection. Bacterial identification was performed for TB1 as a potential virulent isolate. Bacterial identification using partial 16s rRNA gene showed that TB1 exhibited 99.84% identity to 2611. This study concludes that TB1 is a potentially virulent MDR isolated from toilet bowls at a medical university.