Enterococcus faecalis is one of the most significant pathogen in both nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Reduced susceptibility to antibiotics is in part due to efflux pumps. This study was conducted on 80 isolates of E. faecalis isolated from outpatients with urinary tract infection during a period of 1 year from April 2014 to April 2015. The antibiotic susceptibility patterns of isolates were determined by the disk diffusion method and presence of efrA and efrB genes was detected by PCR and sequencing. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to ciprofloxacin (CIP) were measured with and without carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) by broth microdilution. The highest resistance rate was observed to erythromycin (83.3%) and the prevalence of efrA and efrB genes in all E. faecalis isolates was 100%. This study showed that 9 out of 13 (69.2%) ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates became less resistant at least fourfolds to CIP in the presence of efflux pump inhibitor. Our result showed that CCCP as an efflux inhibitor can increase effect of CIP as an efficient antibiotic and it is suggested that efrAB efflux pumps are involved in resistance to fluoroquinolone.
Keywords: efflux pumps; CCCP; antibiotic resistance.