Investigation of the Relationship between Antibiotic Resistance and Biofilm Production in Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from Hamadan Hospitals, Iran

Background and Objective: The role of biofilm formation by bacteria has been considered as an important stage in the pathogenesis of Klebsiella pneumoniae. This pathogen is one of the most important opportunistic pathogen agents of nosocomial infections, such as pneumonia, urinary tract infections, invasive infections, and surgical site infections. This study aimed to investigate the biofilm producer strains among different clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Materials and Methods: This observational study was conducted on 230 clinical samples with bacterial infection. The selective culture media and biochemical tests were used for the identification of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. Crystal Violet assay and PCR were also used to characterize biofilm strains. Results: Out of 230 samples collected from different specimens, 100 isolates (43.47%) of Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified by biochemical tests. Of these, 58 (58%) and 42 isolates (42%) were isolated from the male and female individuals, respectively. The phenotypic method showed 2, 27, 41, and 30 isolates as strong biofilm producers, medium biofilm producers, weak biofilm producers, and non-biofilm producers, respectively. The frequency of genes were reported as wzm (47%), markA (69%), pgaAa (65%), and wbbm (47%), respectively. Conclusion: The markA gene plays an important role in biofilm formation and can identify different biofilms in Klebsiella pneumoniae strains. It is also possible to identify bacteria with weak, moderate, and strong biofilms.