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.
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.
Yum
Jong Hwa
JH
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.
Yi
Keonsoo
K
Lee
Hyukmin
H
Yong
Dongeun
D
Lee
Kyungwon
K
Kim
June Myung
JM
Rossolini
Gian Maria
GM
Chong
Yunsop
Y
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*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D016023:Integrins; D015378:Imipenem; C409201:beta-lactamase IMP-1; C425108:beta-lactamase bla(vim-2); D001618:beta-Lactamases