Microbiological and molecular characterization of antimicrobial resistance in uropathogenic Escherichia coli from peruvian public hospitals.

We characterized the antimicrobial resistance of 70 Escherichia coli isolates obtained from patients with a urinary tract infection (UTI) from 8 public hospitals in Peru. Resistance profiles were identified using the automated MicroScan® system. A standard polymerase chain reaction was used for the detection of the bla TEM, bla CTX-M, bla SHV and bla PER genes. The 65.7% (46/70) of the isolates presented a multidrug-resistant phenotype and 55.7% (39/70) were extended-spectrum beta-lactamases producers. High levels of resistance were detected for ampicillin (77,1%), ciprofloxacin (74,3%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (62,9%), cefepime (57,1%), and cefuroxime (57,1%). The bla TEM gene was the most frequent (31,4%), followed by bla CTX-M (18,6%) and bla SHV (2,9%) genes. These results show high resistance levels to antimicrobials of clinical use in E. coli isolates from hospital UTI patients in Peru.