Providencia stuartii Isolates from Greece: Co-Carriage of Cephalosporin (blaSHV-5, blaVEB-1), Carbapenem (blaVIM-1), and Aminoglycoside (rmtB) Resistance Determinants by a Multidrug-Resistant Outbreak Clone

Abstract

Providencia stuartii has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen. We describe an outbreak due to a multidrug-resistant strain over a 4-month period in a critical care unit in Athens. Molecular typing revealed each of the isolates to be clonally related with coresistance to cephalosporins, carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and quinolones. Each isolate contained a 220-kb multi-replicon (IncA/C and IncR) conjugative plasmid encoding TEM-1, SHV-5, VEB-1, and VIM-1 β-lactamases and the 16S rDNA methylase RmtB. Antimicrobial therapy was unsuccessful in 3 of 6 cases, and resistance was readily transmissible to susceptible strains of Escherichia coli by transformation and conjugation. This highlights the clinical importance of P. stuartii and its ability to disseminate critical resistance determinants to other bacterial pathogens.