[Prevalence of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates resistant to imipenem by production of metallo-beta-lactamase].
Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) are enzymes produced by Gram-negative bacilli such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. These enzymes make these isolates resistant to imipenem.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of this resistance mechanism in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii strains identified in the bacteriology laboratory of the Rabat Ibn Sina teaching hospital, Morocco.


METHODS
Screening for MBL was systematic in all resistant strains and/or strains with decreased sensitivity to imipenem, according to Dongeun Yong et al.'s method, using a sterilized solution of EDTA 0.5 M pH 8.


RESULTS
Eighty-five bacterial strains (48 P. aeruginosa and 37 A. baumannii) were identified 23% (11) and 57% (21) of which were respectively resistant to the imipenem. The prevalence of MbetaL producing strains was 27% for P. aeruginosa and 38% for A. baumannii.


CONCLUSIONS
These results show that the frequency of these strains is increases in our hospital and that their emergence represents a serious therapeutic and epidemiological problem. This means that we need to implement the supervision of hospital microbial environment and strictly apply hygiene measures.
Ait El Kadi
M
M
Service de microbiologie, hôpital des spécialités, CHU Ibn-Sina, Rabat, Maroc. saitelkadi@yahoo.fr
Aghrouch
M
M
Seffar
M
M
El harti
J
J
Bouklouze
A
A
Cherrah
Y
Y
Souly
K
K
Zouhdi
M
M
D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D015378:Imipenem / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000378:metabolism*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015378:Imipenem; D001618:beta-Lactamases