Integrons Detection in Antimicrobial resistance Escherichia coli Isolated from Clinical and Environmental Sources in Basrah Province

The study was aimed to distinguish the integron type and number in Anti-drug-resistant (AMR) Escherichia coli that detected from clinical, subclinical mastitis and environmental samples in Basrah province. For detection of E.coli both conventional and molecular techniques was used, and the antibiotic susceptibility assessment was done by Kirby-Bauer method. The results revealed a high resistance to penicillin 23(100%) erythromycin 19(82.6%), tetracycline 21(91.3%) and gentamycin 12(52.17%). Also, the results shown a significant association (P≤0.05) between antibiotics resistance and the E.coli that isolated from mastitis and subclinical mastitis cases. Furthermore, we used a specific primers to detect the presence of integrons in AMR Escherichia coli. The results revealed that 8(34.78%) of the total isolates contained IntI1 (491bp in size), 5((21.73%) contained IntI2, and 2 (8.69%) contained IntI3 (788 and 600bp) respectively. The study showed a significant (P≤0.05) correlation among (IntI1& IntI2) and AMR Escherichia coli that isolated from clinical and environmental samples. We concluded, that the results of this study offer convincing proof for the immediate need to create rapid diagnostic services for guiding antibiotic decisions and a robust, comprehensive, and continual antibiotic surveillance program to halt the transmission of antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli strains that containing integrons, specifically IntI1and IntI2.