Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of beta-lactam antibiotics using Etest against clinical isolates from 60 medical centres in Japan

Co-occurrence of Carbapenemase-encoding Genes Among Klebsiella pneumoniae Clinical Isolates: Positive Relationship of bla NDM and bla SIM with Imipenem Resistance

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-KP), known as a significant public health threat, is the most common causative agent of nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate resistance to carbapenems and determine the prevalence of carbapenemase genes and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of K. pneumoniae clinical isolates. Methods: One-hundred K. pneumoniae isolates were evaluated. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of imipenem and meropenem were assessed by the broth microdilution method. Multiplex-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to detect 11 carbapenemase-encoding genes belonging to different classes. The alleles and sequence types (ST) of three isolates were identified by MLST. Results: The MIC of carbapenems for the isolates ranged from 0.062 to 32 µg/mL. Overall, resistance rates to imipenem and meropenem were reported 11% and 34%, respectively. The bla IMP gene was the most abundant (78.4%), followed by bla OXA-48 (48.6%), bla GIM (27%), bla KPC (27%), bla SIM (21.6%), bla BIC (21.6%), bla NDM (16.2%), bla AIM (16.2%), bla VIM (16.2%), bla DIM (8.1%), and bla SPM (8.1%). The co-existence of carbapenemase genes was observed in 81.8% of the isolates. A positive relationship was found between the presence of bla NDM and bla SIM and resistance to imipenem. Multilocus sequence typing results showed three different sequence types, including ST14, ST5188, and ST1861. Conclusions: This study revealed a high prevalence of CR-KP isolates that suggests a high risk of horizontal gene transfer and potential to spread resistance among other strains. Since STs are reported for the first time in Iran, they can be considered as emerging strains.

The frequency of Klebsiella pneumonia encoding genes for CTX-M, TEM-1 and SHV-1 extended-spectrum beta lactamases enzymes isolated from urinary tract infection

Background

The extended- spectrum β-lactamase producing bacteria are widely spread worldwide. The productions of these enzymes cause bacterial resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to investigated the frequency of K. pneumonia encoding genes for CTX-M, TEM-1 and SHV-1 extended-spectrum beta lactamases enzymes isolated from urinary tract infection.

Methods

This study is cross-sectional study. All K. pneumonia isolates from urine samples, which had grown on media culture more than 105 were delivered to the medical microbiology laboratory. K. pneumonia susceptibility of 198 samples were confirmed by disk diffusion. The gene frequency of genes was determined using PCR, and analyzed using SPSS version 21 software.

Finding

Most of the K. pneumonia isolated from urine producing β-lactamase were resistant to cotrimoxazole (53.2%) followed by cefotaxime (50%), ceftazidime, ceftriaxone (40.3%), nalidixic acid (17.8%), amikacin and imipenem (1.6%) and meropenem (0%) respectively. Out of the 198 confirmed isolates of K. pneumonia, 62 cases (31.3%) have the gene phenotype of broad spectrum β-lactamase enzymes and highest frequency of gene phenotype was related to the SHV-1 gene (85.5%). Then in the terms of abundance from highest to lowest CTXM-3 (56.5%), CTXM-1 (27.4%), TEM-1 (16.1%) and CTXM-2 (8.1%), were respectively.

Conclusion

This study showed that K. pneumonia isolated from urine producing β-lactamase were resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. Due to the increasing resistance of most antibiotics, control and supervision in the use of antibiotics and identification of broad spectrum β-lactamase enzymes by phenotypic methods appears to be essential.

Epidemiology of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) during 2000-2012 in Asia

BACKGROUND

Over the past decade, the worldwide emergence of carbapenem resistance in Enterobacteriaceae has become a severe public health issue. This meta-analysis aims to describe the epidemiology of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) during the years of 2000-2012 in Asian area.

METHODS

PubMed and Embase databases were searched to identify the qualified papers. Random or fixed-effect model was used to deal with the data.

RESULTS

Over all the 49 Asian countries (or regions), only 37.5% [19] of them contributed epidemiology data of CRE, and the rest ones provided either only case reports or no information at all. In Asia, the prevalence of CRE was still low during the study period with average resistance rates of 0.6% (95% CI, 0.6-0.8%, imipenem) and 0.9% (95% CI, 0.7-1.2%, meropenem). Resistance rates to imipenem and meropenem in Enterobacteriaceae exhibited stably escalating trend. Similar trend can also be observed among each Enterobacteriaceae genus, such as E. coli, Klebsiella spp. and Enterobacer spp. Klebsiella spp. accounted for the largest proportion among the isolates resistant to imipenem, and then followed by E. coli and Serratia. The rank order of resistance rates to imipenem among Enterobacteriaceae genus during the period of 2000-2012 was as follows: Serratia spp. (1.8%) > Proteus spp. (1.6%) > Klebsiella spp. (0.8%) = Citrobacter spp. (0.8%) > Enterobacer spp. (0.7%) > E. coli (0.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

Given the fact that the prevalence of CRE was increasing during the past decade, it is urgent for us to establish regional surveillance worldwide, carry out more effective antibiotic stewardship and infection control measures to prevent further spread of carbapenem resistance in Enterobacteriaceae.

First comprehensive evaluation of the M.I.C. evaluator device compared to Etest and CLSI broth microdilution for MIC testing of aerobic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species

The M.I.C. Evaluator strip (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Basingstoke, United Kingdom) uses a methodology similar to that of Etest. In this first assessment of the M.I.C. Evaluator device, 409 strains of aerobic Gram-positive bacteria (staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci) and 325 strains of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas species, and Acinetobacter species were tested by M.I.C. Evaluator strip, Etest, and broth microdilution as a reference standard. The Gram-positive bacteria included staphylococci (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, and coagulase-negative staphylococci), Streptococcus pneumoniae, beta-hemolytic streptococci and viridians group strains, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and other enterococci. The Gram-negative bacteria included 250 strains of 60 Enterobacteriaceae species plus 50 Pseudomonas and 25 Acinetobacter species. A total of 14 antimicrobial agents (depending on the species) were included. The same methodology and reading format were used for M.I.C. Evaluator strips and Etest. Broth microdilution methodology was performed according to CLSI document M07-A8. For the clinical strains, >95% of results were plus or minus one doubling dilution for all species. There were fewer than 5% minor errors, fewer than 3% major errors, and fewer than 1% very major errors. M.I.C. Evaluator strips and Etest often reported higher MICs than the reference broth microdilution method. The M.I.C. Evaluator strips provided results comparable to those of the predicate Etest device and are of value for the accurate testing of MICs for these important pathogens.

Comparable population pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic breakpoints of cefpirome in cystic fibrosis patients and healthy volunteers

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are often reported to have higher clearances and larger volumes of distribution per kilogram of total body weight (WT) for beta-lactams than healthy volunteers. As pharmacokinetic (PK) data on cefpirome from studies of CF patients are lacking, we systematically compared its population PK and pharmacodynamic breakpoints for CF patients and healthy volunteers of similar body size. Twelve adult CF patients (median lean body mass [LBM] = 45.7 kg) and 12 healthy volunteers (LBM = 50.0 kg) received a single 10-min intravenous infusion of 2 g cefpirome. Plasma and urine concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Population PK and Monte Carlo simulations were performed using NONMEM and S-ADAPT and a duration of an unbound plasma concentration above the MIC ≥ 65% of the dosing interval as a pharmacodynamic target. Unscaled clearances for CF patients were similar to those seen with healthy volunteers, and the volume of distribution was 6% lower for CF patients. Linear scaling of total clearance by WT resulted in clearance that was 20% higher (P ≤ 0.001 [nonparametric bootstrap]) in CF patients. Allometric scaling by LBM explained the differences between the two subject groups with respect to average clearance and volume of distribution and reduced the unexplained between-subject variability of renal and nonrenal clearance by 10 to 14%. For the CF patients, robust (>90%) probabilities of target attainment (PTA) were achieved by the administration of a standard dose of 2 g/70 kg WT every 12 h (Q12h) given as 30-min infusions for MICs ≤ 1.5 mg/liter. As alternative dosage regimens, a 5-h infusion of 1.33 g/70 kg WT Q8h achieved robust PTAs for MICs ≤ 8 to 12 mg/liter and a continuous infusion of 4 g/day for MICs ≤ 12 mg/liter. Prolonged infusion of cefpirome is expected to be superior to short-term infusions for MICs between 2 and 12 mg/liter.

Active immunization using exotoxin A confers protection against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in a mouse burn model

BACKGROUND

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important cause of nosocomial infection and may lead to septicemia and death. We evaluated the immunogenicity of semi-purified exotoxin A from the bacterium in a mouse burn model.

METHODS

The toxoid was prepared from exotoxin A taken from toxigenic strains of P. aeruginosa (PA 103). 50 mice were immunized with the toxoid, burned with hot metal and infected with 1 x 10(8) CFU of toxigenic strains of P. aeruginosa (experimental group); 25 non-immunized mice were also burned and infected (control group). The mortality rate and presence of any exotoxin and P. aeruginosa in the sera, liver and spleen were determined.

RESULTS

In the experimental group, 2 mice died before the burns were administered and were excluded from the study. The remainder (48 mice) were challenged with a lethal dose of P. aeruginosa and followed for 70 days. 3 of these mice died. Neither P. aeruginosa nor exotoxin A was not detected in the liver, spleen or sera of the surviving mice. The protective efficacy of toxoid vaccination was therefore 93.8%. In the control group, all mice died from bacteremia and septicemia, most (80%) within 6 days, and P. aeruginosa and exotoxin A were isolated from sera, spleen and liver.

CONCLUSION

Active immunization of mice using a semi-purified exotoxin A derived from P. aeruginosa was 93.8% effective at protecting mice from subsequent P. aeruginosa infections in a mouse burn model.

Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of beta-lactam antibiotics by Etest against clinical isolates from 100 medical centers in Japan (2004)

This antimicrobial resistance surveillance study was performed in 100 medical centers. The susceptibility of 9347 strains including Escherichia coli (997 strains), Klebsiella spp. (997 strains), Enterobacter spp. (988 strains), Citrobacter spp. (834 strains), indole-positive Proteae spp. (855 strains), Serratia spp. (925 strains), Acinetobacter spp. (902 strains), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (996 strains), oxacillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (992 strains), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (861 strains) to 7 beta-lactam antibiotics, cefepime, cefpirome, ceftazidime, cefoperazone/sulbactam, imipenem and piperacillin (for gram negatives), or oxacillin (for gram positives) was tested. No strain resistant to these beta-lactams except for ceftazidime was found in oxacillin-susceptible S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci. E. coli (16.5%) clinical isolates were resistant to piperacillin, whereas 1.5% or less (cefpirome = 1.5%) was resistant to other beta-lactams. Klebsiella spp. strains were more susceptible to imipenem (99.7%), cefepime (98.4%), and cefpirome (97.3%). Isolates of Enterobacter spp., Citrobacter spp., indole-positive Proteae, and Serratia spp. were susceptible to imipenem, cefepime, and cefpirome, as well. Acinetobacter spp. strains were most susceptible to cefoperazone/sulbactam (0.8% resistance), imipenem (3.2%), ceftazidime (6.0%), and cefepime (7.0%) than other beta-lactam antibiotics tested. Isolates of P. aeruginosa were more susceptible to ceftazidime (9.9% resistance), cefoperazone/sulbactam (14.9%), and cefepime (11.2%) than piperacillin (15.5%), cefpirome (19.1%), and imipenem (19.3%). The percentage of imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa is around 20% in clinical isolates in Japan.

Metallo-beta-lactamase IMP-1 in Providencia rettgeri from two different hospitals in Japan

In 2002, 495 indole-positive proteae strains were isolated from patients at 60 hospitals in Japan. Nine indole-positive proteae strains had reduced susceptibility to imipenem (MIC > or = 8 microg ml(-1)) and were identified as Providencia rettgeri by BD Phoenix. Eight of the nine Prov. rettgeri isolates were confirmed as metallo-beta-lactamase producers by the double-disc synergy test. All the metallo-beta-lactamases were classified as IMP-1 by PCR and DNA sequence analysis. These bla(IMP-1) genes were encoded in the integron structure on conjugative plasmids. These plasmids could transfer from Prov. rettgeri clinical isolates to Escherichia coli ML4903 at a frequency between 1.5 x 10(-5) and 5.5 x 10(-7). The eight bla(IMP)-positive strains were isolated from two hospitals, and showed two different PFGE patterns, two different integron structures and two different incompatibility groups, which corresponded to the two hospitals. These results strongly suggest the possibility of nosocomial infections by bla(IMP-1)-producing Prov. rettgeri isolates.