Isolation and identification of Klebsiella Pneumoniae from camels with molecular detection of some genes concerning virulence and antibiotic resistance

Abstract

Respiratory illness is an emerging concern of camels that resulting considerable loss in production, elevated mortalities and increasing the cost of preventing and therapeutic programs. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a substantial opportunistic pathogen that induces a wide spectrum of infections including respiratory diseases in human and animals. In the present study, 116 nasal swabs and 89 lung tissue samples were gathered from 60 apparently healthy as well as 145 respiratory ill camels. Samples were screened for the isolation and classical and API 20 E biochemical identification of Klebsiella pneumoniae then the obtained isolates were tested for antibiotic susceptibility and the existence of antibiotic resistance (blaTEM and aadB) as well as virulence genes (magA and rmpA). Out of 205 examined samples, 15 isolates (7.31%) were culturally and biochemically confirmed as Klebsiella pneumonia. The isolates were resistant to amoxicillin, ampicillin and gentamycin (100%) but susceptible to levofloxacin, imipenem (100%), ciprofloxacin (93.3%) and ceftriaxon (73%). The application of uniplex PCR on the selected K. pneumoniae isolates revealed the detection of antibiotic resistance genes (blaTAM and aadB) 100 % while virulence genes (magA, rmpA) (40%, 0%) respectively.