Outbreak of CTX-M-15-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae of sequence type 199 in a Latvian teaching hospital

Abstract

Previous studies on the epidemiology of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Latvia are lacking. ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 32) were subjected to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and selected isolates to multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Species identification and susceptibility testing were performed using VITEK2, and sequencing of bla(CTX-M) was performed in selected isolates. PFGE revealed one major clone (n = 23), with most of the isolates derived from the ICU. The clone harboured bla(CTX-M-15), was sequence type 199 and comprised two ertapenem non-susceptible isolates. This is the first report of an ESBL outbreak in Latvia, and calls for increased epidemiological typing of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae, as well as improved infection control routines.