Drug Resistance trends of Escherichia coli among Hospitalized and Outdoor Patients confirmed via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

Escherichia coli is a versatile pathogen, that cause bacterial infections in both Hospitalized and Outdoor patients, showing significant resistance to commonly used antibiotics. The global misuse of antibiotics has driven the emergence of multidrug-resistant E. coli, posing a major public health threat. The aim of present study was to determine resistance pattern in isolates of E. coli from clinical samples of both hospitalized and outdoor patients. A total number of 250 clinical samples, including Urine (94), Pus (76), Endotracheal tubing (36) and Tracheal aspirates (44) were collected from both male and female Hospitalized and Outdoor patients and were cultured on appropriate culture media. Pure colonies were confirmed through biochemical tests, and antibiotic susceptibility was assessed using the disc diffusion method following CLSI guidelines. The prevalence of E. coli among the isolates was highest in urine samples (54.2%), followed by pus (36.8%), tracheal aspirates (15.9%), and endotracheal tubing (8.3%). Gender-wise distribution revealed a higher prevalence in female samples (38.5%) compared to male samples (32.2%), with statistically significant results. Among the isolates, 5.61% were identified as pan-drug resistant, while 30.33% exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR). E. coli was highly resistant to Ampicillin (93%), Cefuroxime (93%), Cotrimoxazole (76%), Ceftazidime (100%), Ciprofloxacin (77%), Ceftriaxone (83%), Cefepime (82%), Levofloxacin (80%), Cefotaxime (88%), Doxycycline (75%), Tetracycline (80%), Amoxicillin (88%), Cefpe/salb (60%) and Norfloxacin (91%). E. coli was found to be highly susceptible to Imipenem (77%), Piperacillin-Tazobactum (55.5%), Meropenem (72%), Amikacin (84%), Gentamicin (54%) and Nitrofurantoin (69%). Fosfomycin demonstrated susceptibility in 90% of Urine isolates. Most drug-resistant isolates were associated with hospital-acquired infections, underscoring the high prevalence of multidrug-resistant E. coli and the need to understand resistance patterns for effective treatment and infection control.