First outbreak of a plasmid-mediated carbapenem-hydrolyzing OXA-48 β-lactamase in Klebsiella pneumoniae in Spain

Abstract

Twenty Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates producing OXA-48 were collected from April 2009 to September 2010. Strains were clonally related and coproduced a CTX-M-15 β-lactamase. A conjugative plasmid of circa 70 kb carrying blaOXA-48 was identified. Eleven isolates showed low-level resistance to carbapenems, whereas nine showed high-level resistance. Decreased expression of OmpK36 was related to high-level resistance to carbapenems. The isolates belonged to sequence type 101 (ST101). This is the first outbreak caused by an OXA-48-producing K. pneumoniae strain in Spain. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.