Background: Streptococcus agalacticae is one of the most important causative agents of serious infections among neonates. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) virulence factors are important in the development of vaccines, whilst antibiotic resistance genes are necessary in understanding the resistance mechanisms used by these pathogens. This study was carried out to identify the virulence genes and antibiotic resistance genes associated with GBS isolated from pregnant women.
Methods: A total of 43 GBS isolates were obtained from vaginal samples that were collected from all HIV positive and HIV negative women who were 13-35 weeks pregnant attending Antenatal Care at both Chitungwiza and Harare Central Hospitals in Zimbabwe. Identification tests of GBS isolates was done using standard bacteriological methods including molecular tests. Antibiotic susceptibility testing using 3 antibiotics was done using the modified Kirby-Bauer method. The boiling method was used to extract DNA and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used to screen for 13 genes in the isolates. Data was fed into SPSS 24.0 and the Spearman rank correlation test used to determine any correlation among genes.
Results: Nine distinct virulence gene profiles were identified. The profiles hly-scpB-bca-rib 37.2% (16/43) and hly-scpB-bca 18.6% (8/43) were common among GBS isolates. The following virulence gene frequencies were obtained namely hly 97.8% (42/43), scpB 90.1% (39/43), bca 86.0% (37/43), rib 69.8% (30/43) and bac 11.6% (5/43). Antibiotic resistance genes showed high frequencies for tetM 97.6% (41/42) and low frequencies for ermB 34.5% (10/29), ermTR 10.3% (3/29), mefA 3.4% (1/29), tetO 2.4% (1/42) and linB 0% (0/35). The atr housekeeping gene amplification yielded 100% (43/43) positive results, whilst the mobile genetic element IS1548 yielded a low 9.3% (4/43).
Conclusion: The study showed a high prevalence of multiple virulence genes hly, scpB, bca and rib in S. agalactiae strains isolated from pregnant women. Tetracycline resistance was found to be predominantly caused by the tetM gene, whilst macrolide resistance was predominantly due to the presence of erm methylase, with the ermB gene being more prevalent. It was also observed that in vitro phenotypic resistance is not always accurately predicted by resistance genotypes.