Objective: To evaluate the antimicrobial resistance pattern of Escherichia coli, an important pathogen associated with urinary tract infections, in asthmatic adult patients previously repeatedly exposed to residual amounts of aminoglycosides from flu vaccines.
Material and methods: We determined the antibiotic susceptibility of Escherichia coli strains isolated from the specimens of adult asthmatic subjects with urinary tract infections, hospitalized in an allergy university clinic in Bucharest. All patients were enrolled in the previous six months, are known with persistent asthma treated with controller medication, and received seasonal influenza vaccination annually at least the last two years, with or without a previous A/H1N1 pandemic flu vaccination, with vaccines containing traces of aminoglycosides. A control group included adult patients with a positive history of adverse drug reactions not vaccinated for influenza and not treated with aminoglycosides in the last two years. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.
Results: We found that overall the gentamicin susceptibility rate is high in analysed samples from the enrolled patients (94.82%). Gentamicin resistance is very low in both groups, with evidently no statistical increase in resistance to this antibiotic in the Escherichia coli isolated from the urine of asthmatic patients previously parenteral exposed to influenza vaccines containing residual amounts of neomycin or gentamicin.
Conclusion: The annually administration of injectable flu vaccines containing aminoglycosides in order to protect high-risk groups against the variable influenza virus seems not to influence gentamicin susceptibility pattern of Escherichia coli strains.