Microbiology

Biography

Biography: Ovidiu Zlatian

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial resistance represents an enormous global health crisis and one of the most serious threats humans face today. Enterobacteria-producing extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) play an important role in healthcare infections, increasing hospitalization time, morbidity and mortality rates. Among several ESBLs that emerge from these pathogens, CTX-M-type enzymes had the most successful global spread in different epidemiological settings. We aimed to identify the beta-lactamases circulating encoded by the genes blaCTX-M-15, blaSHV-1 and blaTEM-1 in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) strains. We established the associated resistance phenotypes among patients hospitalized in County Clinical Emergency Hospital of Craiova, Romania. Methods: A total of 92 non-duplicated bacterial strains (28 strains of E. coli and 64 strains of K. pneumoniae), which were resistant to ceftazidime (CAZ) and cefotaxime (CTX) by Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method, were identified using the automated VITEK2 system. Detection of ESBL-encoding genes and other resistance genes was carried out by PCR. Results: E. coli strains were resistant to 3rd generation cephalosporins and moderately resistant to quinolones, whereas K. pneumonia strains were resistant to penicillins, cephalosporins, and sulfamides, and moderately resistant to quinolones and carbapenems. Most E. coli strains harbored blaCTX-M-15 gene (20/28 strains), two strain had the blaSHV-1 gene, but 11 strains harbored blaTEM-1 gene. In K. pneumoniae strains we detected blaCTX-M-15 in 50 strains, blaSHV-1in all strains and blaTEM-1 in 24 strains. Conclusions: The high frequency of the CTX-M-1 group and a high rate of ESBL co-production are changing the epidemiology of the ESBL profile in hospitals. This epidemiology is a constant and increasing challenge, not only in Romania, but worldwide.