Relationship of Biofilm Formation and Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Introduction: Escherichia coli is the most frequent etiological agent isolated from urinary tract infections. Ability of these bacteria to form biofilm is one of its important virulence factors. Moreover in the past decades, there has been a growing increase in the prevalence of antibiotic resistance against commonly prescribed antibiotics. Bacteria in biofilm are considered to be highly resistant to antimicrobial agents. Materials and Methods: All the urine isolates were cultured to isolate the etiological agent of the infection and were tested for their susceptibility against various antibiotics recommended for their treatment. Of these isolates, only E. coli were subjected for biofilm formation detection. The resistance pattern obtained after antibiotic susceptibility testing was correlated with the results obtained from biofilm detection. All the results were statistically analyzed. Results: Of all the isolated obtained after culturing urine samples, 90% of them turned out to be E. coli only. When these isolates were subjected to biofilm detection, 35% of them showed positive results. Further, their resistance pattern revealed that bacteria-forming biofilms were more resistant toward penicillins, cephalosporins, and fluoroquinolones where very little resistance was reported for aminoglycosides, carbapenems, and nitrofurantoins. Conclusion: As this study concludes a positive association between biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance, it is strongly suggested that detection of biofilm and awareness about the susceptibility pattern of the bacteria toward locally prescribed antibiotics can be helpful in improving the efficacy of the empirical treatment of types of infections.