Características patogénicas de cepas de Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistentes a carbapenémicos, asociadas con la formación de biopelículas Pathogenic characteristics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains resistant to carbapenems associated with biofi lm formation

Background. In recent years, the worldwide emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been observed. This opportunistic pathogen produces mechanisms of resistance to several antibiotics. The resistance to carbapenems in P. aeruginosa strains has been associated with bacterial biofi lm formation, favored by the presence of exopolysaccharides (EPS) embedded in an extracellular matrix and to the production of type IV pili (T4P). We undertook this study to assess biofi lm formation in clinical strains of P. aeruginosa resistant to carbapenems isolated at the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez (HIMFG) through quantifi cation of total-reducing EPS and its association with the phenotypic expression of T4P.