Highlights
- •Streptococcus agalactiae research studies are lacking in Palestine.
- •We investigate the serotypes, virulent genes, and antibiotic profile of the invasive group B Streptococcus strains.
- •Serotype III most is predominant among local isolates.
- •Resistant group B Streptococcus strains are common in Palestine.
- •Evidence-based infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship efforts are needed.
Abstract
Background
Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus) is beta-hemolytic, catalase negative, gram-positive cocci, recognized as main bacterial
pathogen causing infections in newborns, infants, adults, and elderly people around
the world. The aim of this study is to investigate group B Streptococcus samples recovered from invasive patients and determine serotype, virulent genes,
and antibiotic-resistant profile of Streptococcus agalactiae in Palestine.
Methods
A total of 95 group B Streptococcus strains were isolated from neonates, infants, pregnant and non-pregnant women and
males at Arabcare Hospital Laboratory, Palestine, between the period of June 2018
and September 2020. Species identification was carried out through cultivation and
conventional biochemical tests. A conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (cPCR) was
used to determine the 5 serotypes and virulent genes of the Streptococcus agalactiae strains. The antibiotic resistance test of group B Streptococcus was evaluated using Kirby-Bauer disk susceptibility. Sequencing and BLAST analysis
were used to determine the relationship of the isolates in this study to worldwide
isolates.
Results
Serotype III (35%) was the major group B Streptococcus strains serotype causing invasive infections in neonates, infants, pregnant and nonpregnant
women, and males, followed by serotypes V (19%), Ia, and II (15%), Ib (6%), respectively.
All our isolates encoding for surface protein virulent factors, including a highly
virulent gene (HvgA) were mostly found in strains isolated from pregnant women (12%). These group B
Streptococcus strains exhibited a high rate of resistance to clindamycin (26%). The overall percentage
of levofloxacin resistance was 11%, while vancomycin and ampicillin showed higher
resistance, at 14.7 and 16% respectively. In addition, the phylogenetic relationship
dendrogram illustrates that Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from an invasive patient (newborn) in Palestine was similar to strains found
in China and Japan.
Conclusions
The outcomes of this study demonstrate that resistant group B Streptococcus strains are common in Palestine, therefore, evidence-based infection prevention and
antibiotic stewardship efforts are necessary.
Key words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 25, 2021
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: We declared no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval and consent to participate: Sample collection and analysis of the GBS isolates for this study were approved by Arabcare Hospital Laboratory ethical committee.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
