Abstract
The current study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, biofilm production capabilities, and the prevalence of efflux pump and biofilm-associated genes among Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates. One hundred sixty-seven K. pneumoniae isolates were collected from microbiology laboratories in Northern Jordan hospitals. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested using the Kirby-Bauer method. The double-disk synergy test was used to detect the extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) phenotype. PCR was used to detect the frequency of acrAB, tolC, and mdtk efflux pump genes and fimH-1, mrkA, and mrkD biofilm-associated genes among the isolates. The highest nonsusceptibility was observed against azithromycin (87.4 %) and nitrofurantoin (85.0 %). Among the isolates, 75.4 % and 92.2 % were multidrug resistant and produced biofilms, respectively. Efflux pump genes acrAB, tolC, and mdtK were found in 96.4 %, 95.2 %, and 90.4 % of the isolates, respectively. Biofilm-associated genes mrkD, mrkA, and fimH-1 were found in 92.2 %, 89.2 %, and 88.6 % of the isolates, respectively. The presence of the mrkA was significantly associated with biofilm formation. Overall, high percentages of multi-drug resistance, efflux pump, and biofilm-associated genes were observed among the isolates. Subsequent studies are recommended to monitor changes in the prevalence of resistance phenotypes and genotypes of isolates.