Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common pathogen with an increasing multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype. Its virulence determinants include many factors such as antimicrobial resistance, biofilm formation, and type III secretion system (T3SS) which correlate with disease severity. There are no reports regarding the virulence features of P. aeruginosa in Cyprus. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and distribution of selected virulence-encoding genes and evaluate the biofilm formation potential as well as antibiotic resistance rates of isolates in the region. One hundred clinical P. aeruginosa isolates were obtained from clinical specimens and were identified using standard microbiological techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed using the VITEK-2 system and biofilm quantification was performed by the microtiter plate assay with crystal violet staining. The presence of algD, exoU, exoT, and exoS was evaluated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among all isolates, 35% were strong biofilm former, 28% were moderate biofilm former, 19% were weak biofilm former, and 18% were non-biofilm former. The rates of MDR and extensive drug resistance (XDR) were 26% and 1%. PCR analysis indicated that 93% of the isolates were algD positive. T3SS genes exoT, exoS, and exoU were detected in 91%, 63%, and 32% of the isolates, respectively. There was a high frequency of exoT + /exoS + genotype (61%), whereas exoT + /exoU + (32%) and exoS + /exoU + (2%) genotypes were relatively uncommon. This study reports the first dataset on the molecular profile of P. aeruginosa in Cyprus. Our results demonstrated that most strains have the biofilm-forming capacity with an algD-positive genotype and the majority carry exoT and exoS with a high frequency of exoT + /exoS + genotype.

铜绿假单胞菌是一种常见的病原体，其多药耐药性（MDR）表型不断增加。其毒力决定因素包括许多因素，如抗菌素耐药性、生物膜形成和与疾病严重程度相关的 III 型分泌系统 (T3SS)。目前还没有关于塞浦路斯铜绿假单胞菌毒力特征的报道。本研究的目的是调查选定毒力编码基因的频率和分布，并评估该地区分离株的生物膜形成潜力以及抗生素耐药率。从临床标本中获得一百株临床铜绿假单胞菌分离株，并使用标准微生物学技术进行鉴定。使用 VITEK-2 系统评估抗菌药物敏感性，并通过结晶紫染色微量滴定板测定进行生物膜定量。使用聚合酶链式反应 (PCR) 评估algD、exoU、exoT和exoS的存在。在所有分离株中，35% 为强生物膜形成剂，28% 为中度生物膜形成剂，19% 为弱生物膜形成剂，18% 为非生物膜形成剂。耐多药率和广泛耐药率（XDR）分别为26%和1%。PCR分析表明93%的分离株呈algD阳性。分别在 91%、63% 和 32% 的分离株中检测到T3SS 基因exoT、exoS和exoU 。exoT  + / exoS + 基因型出现频率较高 (61%)，而exoT  + / exoU  + (32%) 和exoS  + / exoU  + (2%) 基因型则相对少见。这项研究报告了塞浦路斯铜绿假单胞菌分子谱的第一个数据集。我们的结果表明，大多数菌株具有algD阳性基因型的生物膜形成能力，并且大多数菌株携带exoT和exoS，且具有高频率的exoT  + / exoS  + 基因型。