OXA-48 Carbapenemase in Klebsiella pneumoniae Sequence Type 307 in Ecuador

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes bronchopneumonia, abscesses, urinary tract infection, osteomyelitis, and a wide variety of infections. The ubiquity of this microorganism confounds with the great increase in antibiotic resistance and have bred great concern worldwide. K. pneumoniae sequence type (ST) 307 is a widespread emerging clone associated with hospital-acquired infections, although sporadic community infections have also been reported. The aim of our study is to describe the first case of Klebsiella pneumoniae (ST) 307 harboring the blaOXA-48-like gene in Ecuador. We characterized a new plasmid that carry OXA-48 and could be the source of future outbreaks. The strain was recovered from a patient with cancer previously admitted in a Ukrainian hospital, suggesting that this mechanism of resistance could be imported. These findings highlight the importance of programs based on active molecular surveillance for the intercontinental spread of multidrug-resistant microorganisms with emergent carbapenemases.

Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae; OXA-48 carbapenemase; carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales.

Figure 1

From center to outside, the circular map of plasmid pOXA-48 reference CP034283.1 outside in blue plasmid, pOXA-48 from Ecuador, intrinsic curvature, stacking energy, position preference, CDS+, CDS-, global inverted repeats, GC content, GC skew, and percent AT.

Figure 2

Plasmid OXA-48 of K. pneumoniae of Ecuador. Whole sequence shows a high degree of identity with plasmids from Czech Republic.