Outbreak of Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase-Producing Providencia stuartii in a University Hospital in Brazil

Abstract

Background. The emergence of multidrug resistance among gram-negative microorganisms is a major public health problem. The characterization of bacterial strains can be of great assistance in the epidemiological investigation of nosocomial infections.Methods. In the period of February to September 2014, 40 clinical samples of Providencia stuartii that showed resistance to carbapenems were isolated, when evaluated by Vitek2 automation system, from patients admitted to University Hospital of Londrina. The carbapenem resistance mechanism was evaluated by means of phenotypic tests, for the presence of carbapenemases: the modified Hodge test (MHT), addition of phenylboronic acid (PBA) and EDTA 100 mM. Subsequently, the isolates were characterized genotypically by the PCR technique using specific primers for the genes blaKPC, blaVIM e blaIMP, blaOXA-48, blaNDM, and blaCTX-M. Molecular characterization was performed by ERIC-PCR technique.