Occurrence of Imipenem-Resistant Uropathogenic Escherichia coli in Pregnant Women: An Insight into Their Virulence Profile and Clonal Structure.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the predominant pathogen in Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Limited studies were initiated to explore UPEC from pregnant women with respect to imipenem resistance, pathogenicity, and their clonal lineage. In this study, imipenem resistance, phylogenetic background, virulence-associated genes, and clonal characteristics in UPECs isolated from pregnant and non-pregnant cohorts were investigated. E. coli was identified biochemically from urine culture-positive samples from pregnant and non-pregnant women. Carbapenem (meropenem, ertapenem, imipenem) susceptibility was determined by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion test. The pathogenic determinants were identified by PCR. MEGA 11 was used to interpret clonal lineages from MLST. GraphPad Prism 8.0 and SPSS 26.0 were used for statistical interpretation. Results indicated highest resistance against imipenem compared to meropenem and ertapenem in UPECs isolated from pregnant (UPECp; 63.89%) and non-pregnant (UPECnp; 87.88%) women. Although phylogroup E was predominant in both imipenem-resistant isolates, acquisition of virulence factors was higher among UPECnp than UPECp. Akin to this observation, the presence of PAI III and PAI IV was statistically significant (p < 0.05) in the former. MLST analysis revealed similar clonal lineages between UPECnp and UPECp, which showed an overall occurrence of ST405 followed by ST101, ST410, ST131, and ST1195 in UPECnp and ST167 in UPECp, respectively, with frequent occurrence of CC131, CC405. Therefore, imipenem-resistant UPECp although discrete with respect to their virulence determinants when compared to UPECnp shared similar STs and CCs, which implied common evolutionary history. Thus, empiric treatment must be restricted in UTIs to especially protect maternal and fetal health.