title: Description of the metallo-β-lactamase GIM-1 in Acinetobacter pittii.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the mechanisms involved in the reduced carbapenem susceptibility of five Acinetobacter pittii strains isolated from different regions of Germany.
  
  
  METHODS
  The strains were analysed by susceptibility testing, phenotypic tests for metallo-β-lactamase production, sequencing of the integron structure and strain typing by PFGE, as well as multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and plasmid analysis by S1 restriction and hybridization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Despite GIM-1 production, the MICs of imipenem were only 4 mg/L for four strains and some methods of phenotypic MBL detection failed. According to PFGE and MLST, the strains belonged to four different clones, but blaGIM-1 was present in identical integron structures in all strains and carried on plasmids of ∼60 kb.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For the first time, GIM-1 has been demonstrated in A. pittii. This resistance mechanism has previously been reported only in Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. As GIM-1 was found in strains with diverse clonal backgrounds, but encoded on plasmids of a similar size, further spread among Acinetobacter spp. seems possible. The detection of GIM-1 production might be challenging in some strains due to the low MICs of carbapenems.
authors: Department of Medical Microbiology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Kaase
authors: Florian
authors: F
authors: Szabados
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Pfennigwerth
authors: Agnes
authors: A
authors: Anders
authors: Gabriele
authors: G
authors: Geis
authors: Arthur B
authors: AB
authors: Pranada
authors: Susann
authors: S
authors: Rößler
authors: Uwe
authors: U
authors: Lang
authors: Sören G
authors: SG
authors: Gatermann
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015780:Carbapenems / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005838:Genotype; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D016023:Integrins; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010957:Plasmids / Q000032:analysis; D018440:beta-Lactam Resistance; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015780:Carbapenems; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D016023:Integrins; C000604934:beta-lactamase GIM-1, Acinetobacter pittii; D001618:beta-Lactamases; C495217:beta-lactamase GIM-1, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
keywords: PFGE; carbapenemases; integrons; multilocus sequence typing; plasmids