Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is one of the most predominant pathogens of lung infections, often causing exacerbations in adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF).
Materials and methods: Microbiological characterization of 74 PA isolates and to evaluate the correlations between the bacterial features and 44 adult Polish CF cohort clinical parameters.
Results: The most common variant in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene was F508del (76.3%), followed by 3849+10kbC>T (26.3%). A total of 39.4% of the PA isolates showed multiple resistances. In patients with parameters pointing to a decline in lung function, there was a statistically significant moderate correlation with β-lactam resistance and a weak correlation between hospital frequency and colistin resistance. The mucoidity did not correlate with the biofilm formation ability, which showed 41.9% of the isolates. Proteolytic activity, observed in 60.8% of the clinical isolates, was weakly associated with motility detected in 78.4% of the strains. The genetic profiles of the PA were highly heterogeneous, and a weak positive correlation was established between cluster group and biofilm formation.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that there is a high variety in P. aeruginosa populations in adult CF patients. There is a need to monitor PA strains in groups of patients with cystic fibrosis, in particular, in terms of the occurrence of antibiotic resistance related to a decline in lung function.
Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; antimicrobial drug resistance; cystic fibrosis.