title: Molecular characterization of metallo-beta-lactamase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii and Acinetobacter genomospecies 3 from Korea: identification of two new integrons carrying the bla(VIM-2) gene cassettes.
abstract: Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. used to be rare, but are increasingly isolated in Korea. Among 28 isolates of imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. found in a Korean hospital in 1998 and 1999, 14 produced metallo-beta-lactamases. The bla(VIM-2) gene was detected, by PCR, in 11 and two isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii and Acinetobacter genomospecies 3, respectively, and bla(IMP-1) in one isolate of A. baumannii. The MICs of imipenem for the isolates were 8-32 mg/L. PFGE analysis of SmaI-digested genomic DNA gave identical patterns in eight of 11 bla(VIM-2)-positive A. baumannii isolates from respiratory specimens of ICU patients. The bla(VIM-2) gene cassettes in the isolates are identical to those from Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in Europe, but are inserted into new class I integrons In105 and In106. The attC site of the last cassette of the array in In106 is interrupted by the insertion of a putative class II intron. This is the first report of VIM-2 beta-lactamase-producing A. baumannii and Acinetobacter genomospecies 3. Production of the VIM-2 enzyme presents an emerging threat of carbapenem resistance among Acinetobacter spp. in Korea.
authors: Department of Clinical Pathology, Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance, and Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Sciences, Yonsei University College of Medicine, C.P.O. Box 8044, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Jong Hwa
authors: JH
authors: Yum
authors: Keonsoo
authors: K
authors: Yi
authors: Hyukmin
authors: H
authors: Lee
authors: Dongeun
authors: D
authors: Yong
authors: Kyungwon
authors: K
authors: Lee
authors: June Myung
authors: JM
authors: Kim
authors: Gian Maria
authors: GM
authors: Rossolini
authors: Yunsop
authors: Y
authors: Chong
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006801:Humans; D015378:Imipenem / Q000494:pharmacology; D016023:Integrins / Q000235:genetics; D007723:Korea; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D016023:Integrins; D015378:Imipenem; C409201:beta-lactamase IMP-1; C425108:beta-lactamase bla(vim-2); D001618:beta-Lactamases