Frequency of Adhesive Virulence Factor fimH among the Clinical Isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii in India

Abstract

The objective of the study was to detect the presence of fimH gene among the drug resistanst strains of Acinetobacter baumannii. fimH gene was found to be associated with a catch bond mechanism which led to better evolution of biofilm formation. Since there are not many studies done with this gene it would be a timely investigation and this study mainly aims in molecular characterization of fimH gene among clinical isolates of A. baumannii. Semi quantitative bio adherent assay was done by the multidrug resistant strains of A. baumannii to find the formation of biofilm. The DNA was extracted with the help of kit and PCR was performed for amplification. Pearson correlation analysis was done to find the existing correlation between the fimH gene and MDR strains of A. baumannii with significant p-value of (<0.05). From the screened 73 genomes of MDR A. baumannii 6.8% showed positive amplicons for the fimH gene which were related to biofilm and porin formation (Fig. 1). Correlation of its existence was high in beta lactamase (100%), cephems (100%), folate (100%) resistant strains, followed by aminoglycosides (80%), carbapenems (60%) and fluoroquinolones (60%) and efflux pumps (20%). In Spite of various measures undertaken to prevent the disease, the prevalence of the pathogen is multiplying. The current study recorded the presence of fimHgene (6.8%) among the clinical isolates of A.baumannii. This gene can be used as a target to develop new drugs and vaccines to combat the menace of A.baumannii infection.