Frequency of Virulence Genes and Their Association with Biofilm Formation Ability in Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from Wound Infections

Abstract

In recent years, the prevalence of Klebsiella pneumoniae in wound infections has been increasing. The current study aimed to evaluate the biofilm formation capacity of wound-related K. pneumoniae isolates and to find a possible association between the presence of virulence genes and biofilm formation. A total of 74 K. pneumoniae isolates were collected from wound site infections. Molecular studies were performed to confirm the presence of fimH, mrkD, mrkA, wcaG, magA, entB, and irp2 genes. Biofilm formation was determined by microtiter plate assay. All of the tested isolates were able to produce biofilm structure. The frequency of entB, fimH, mrkD, mrkA, wcaG, irp2, and magA was 95.9%, 94.6%, 90.5%, 75.7%, 55.4%, 50%, and 9.5%, respectively. The statistical analysis proved that there was a significant association between biofilm production, presence of fimH, mrkD, mrkA, and wcaG genes and resistance to cephalosporins, amikacin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (P < 0.05).