Rania Abd el Rahman El Daly

Dr. Rania Abd el Rahman El Daly


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

1Year (2026-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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22 October 2026 in Pathogens
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Azza SalahEldin El-DemerdashAzza SalahEldin El-Demerdash
Azza SalahEldin El-Demerdash
HSHana Sonbol
Hana Sonbol
Abdulrahman M. SalehAbdulrahman M. Saleh
Abdulrahman M. Saleh
ESEmad Sakr
Emad Sakr
Mohamed SamirMohamed Samir
Mohamed Samir
RDRania Abd el Rahman El Daly
Rania Abd el Rahman El Daly
Klebsiella oxytoca is an emerging opportunistic pathogen capable of causing bovine mastitis and neonatal colonization. This study provides a comprehensive molecular and phenotypic characterization of K. oxytoca across dairy supply nodes and pediatric host matrices while evaluating a probiotic-based bio-intervention strategy. K. oxytoca was isolated from 27.9% (39/140) of examined samples across dairy supply nodes and infant stool in Egypt, with equal peak prevalence in clinical mastitic milk (40.0%, 8/20) and infant fecal specimens (40.0%, 8/20). High rates of multidrug resistance (MDR; 66.7%, 26/39) were observed, with all isolates (100%) confirmed as extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producers. Colistin (CT) and azithromycin resistance reached 46.2% (18/39) overall, peaking in commercial milk (69.2% for CT). Molecular screening revealed high frequencies of the mobile colistin resistance gene mcr-1 (41.0%, 16/39) and the ESBL determinant blaCTX-M (66.7%, 26/39), alongside fimbrial adhesion (mrkA, 76.9%) and iron acquisition (kfuBC, 82.1%) loci. All isolates (100%) exhibited strong biofilm-forming capacity (mean OD570 = 0.63 ± 0.016), while toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules (symE, ccdB, relE) correlated positively with MDR profiles (p = 0.024). Bacterial virulence gene burden showed strong statistical associations with host tissue damage and inflammatory markers, including elevated milk lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; r = 0.918), haptoglobin (r = 0.954), and neonatal fecal calprotectin (FC; 83.34 ± 21.13 μg/g vs. 22.4 ± 2.0 μg/g in controls, p = 0.02). Crucially, milk-based cell-free metabolic supernatant (CFS) from Lactobacillus acidophilus demonstrated superior antagonistic activity compared to broth-based CFS (inhibition zones up to 40 mm vs. 12 mm against CT-resistant isolates). In silico molecular docking predicted strong binding affinities of putative L. acidophilus bioactive peptides (Acidocin 8912 score: −108.07 kcal/mol; Acidocin B score: 80.63 kcal/mol) to K. oxytoca outer membrane porin CymA and transport targets. These findings highlight the co-occurrence of resilient K. oxytoca lineages across food and pediatric matrices and demonstrate the therapeutic potential of probiotic-derived CFS as a non-antibiotic control strategy within a One Health framework.