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. 2022 Sep 15;11(9):1253.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11091253.

First Belgian Report of Ertapenem Resistance in an ST11 Klebsiella Pneumoniae Strain Isolated from a Dog Carrying blaSCO-1 and blaDHA-1 Combined with Permeability Defects

Hanne Debergh  1   2   3 , Margo Maex  4 , Cristina Garcia-Graells  1 , Cécile Boland  2 , Marc Saulmont  5 , Koenraad Van Hoorde  1 , Claude Saegerman  3
Affiliations

First Belgian Report of Ertapenem Resistance in an ST11 Klebsiella Pneumoniae Strain Isolated from a Dog Carrying blaSCO-1 and blaDHA-1 Combined with Permeability Defects

Hanne Debergh et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae of sequence type (ST) 11 is a hyper-epidemic nosocomial clone, which is spreading worldwide among humans and emerging in pets. This is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, of multidrug-resistant (MDR) K. pneumoniae ST11 carrying blaSCO-1 and blaDHA-1, isolated from a four-month-old dog in Belgium. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of the isolate, performed via broth microdilution following the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidelines, revealed resistance to eight different classes of antimicrobials, including carbapenems, in particular ertapenem, third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. A hybrid approach, combining long- and short-read sequencing, was employed for in silico plasmid characterization, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and the identification and localization of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and virulence-associated genes. Three plasmids were reconstructed from the whole-genome sequence (WGS) data: the conjugative IncFIB(K), the non-mobilizable IncR and the mobilizable but unconjugative ColRNAI. The IncFIB(K) plasmid carried the blaSCO-1 gene, whereas IncR carried blaDHA-1, both alongside several other antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). No virulence genes could be detected. Here, we suggest that the resistance to ertapenem associated with susceptibility to imipenem and meropenem in K. pneumoniae could be related to the presence of blaSCO-1 and blaDHA-1, combined with permeability defects caused by point mutations in an outer membrane porin (OmpK37). The presence of the blaSCO-1 gene on a conjugative IncFIB(K) plasmid is worrisome as it can increase the risk of transmission to humans, to animals and to the environment.

Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae; OmpK37; antimicrobial resistance (AMR); carbapenem; companion animal; emerging risk; hybrid sequencing; sepsis; sequence type 11.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Genomic map of the genome of strain Kpn1695 compared with the K. pneumoniae reference genome HS11286. The circular map was generated with BLAST Ring Image Generator (BRIG) [38].
Figure 1
Figure 1
Genomic map and BRIG comparison of the blaSCO-1-carrying conjugative IncFIB(K) plasmid and three closely genetically related plasmids retrieved from GenBank. The inner light-blue ring represents pKpn1695_SCO-1 and the gray (K. pneumoniae of unknown origin), green (clinical K. pneumoniae) and light blue (K. pneumoniae of unknown origin) rings represent three plasmids with high overall sequence similarities (accession nrs. CP021713_1, CP020838_1 and CP020072_1). The outer ring depicts antimicrobial resistance genes in yellow, insertion sequences in blue and transfer genes in green. The circular map was generated with BLAST Ring Image Generator (BRIG) software [38].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Circular map of the blaDHA-1-carrying IncR plasmid. The green ring represents pKpn1695_DHA-1. The outer ring indicates antimicrobial resistance genes in yellow, insertion sequences in blue and green genes with various functions. The circular map was generated with BLAST Ring Image Generator (BRIG) software [38].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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