Persistence of antimicrobial resistance in E. coli after exposure to penicillins or fluoroquinolones

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate to what extent and for how long commensal bacteria, such as E .coli retrieved from the digestive tract (gut), are affected by treatment with broad-spectrum aminopenicillins and fluoroquinolones. And, if yes, whether this impact is different from the effect of other types of antibiotics tested in the laboratory. Antimicrobial resistance index (ARI) was used as a response variable, which is computed by aggregating resistance to multiple antimicrobial tested for each E. coli isolate. Multiple logistic regression and Generalized Estimating Equations were used to analyze the data. The total study population (sample size) was 236 samples from 120 patients. In conclusion, the E. coli isolates from the digestive tract (gut) had developed resistance to broad-spectrum antibiotics namely aminopenicillins or fluoroquinolones, and the impact is not the same from the effect of other types of antibiotics tested in the laboratory. The impact of a number of days between the last antimicrobial prescription and sampling date on the probability of resistance depends on the gender of the patient.