Characterisation and Detection of Virulence Factors, Alginate and Phospholipase ‘C’ in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa in a Tertiary Care Hospital. -

Background and Objectives: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common nosocomial pathogen. It is a major cause of multidrug resistance infections in hospitalized patients. Production of virulence factors increases the morbidity and mortality associated with Pseudomonal infections. This leads to rising costs of care resulting from prolonged hospital stay. It therefore becomes imperative to study the clinical correlation between the production of virulence factors and the infections caused by P aeruginosa. Objectives of the study were, to isolate and identify Pseudomonas aeruginosa from various clinical Samples and to detect virulence factors, Alginate & Phospholipase ‘C’ in these isolates. Methods: 250 isolates of P aeruginosa obtained from various clinical samples were identified using standard procedures. Isolates were screened for the production of virulence markers, Alginate &Phospholipase-C using prescribed methods. Results: Of the 250 P. aeruginosa included in the study, 238 were isolated from Pus/swab and 12 from urine samples. Among Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from the Pus/swab samples, maximum isolation was from patients presenting with Infected wound and/or gangrene (n=99) followed by patients presenting with diabetic foot ulcer (n=22). Among the Pus/swab samples most of the P aeruginosa isolates were from Surgical wards (General surgery, n=87 and Plastic surgery, n=44) followed by burns unit (8.8%). 3.36% of the Isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa were from patients admitted in the Intensive care unit. While 50% of the isolates produced both alginate and phospholipase C (n=125). None of the strains produced phospholipase C alone. Alginate production as a lone virulence factor was observed in 10.4% of the isolates.