Abstract

A total eighty four epidemiologically unrelated clinical isolates of Salmonella entericaserovars were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and molecular detection of class 1 and 2 integrons. Eleven isolates (13.1%) which were resistant to at least 4 groups of antimicrobial agents considered as MDR (multidrug resistant) Salmonella serovars. PCR assays detected intI1 and intI2 genes in 50 (59.5%) and 14 (16.7%) of Salmonellaclinical isolates respectively. Emergence of MDR Salmonella serovars demonstrates that antimicrobial selection pressure is widespread and increased distribution of integron carrying gene cassettes which confer resistance to different antibiotics confirms that integron-mediated antibiotic resistance is considerable in our clinical settings.

Key words: Salmonella spp., integron, multidrug resistance (MDR).