title: Carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae recovered from a Spanish river ecosystem.
abstract: The increasing resistance to carbapenems is an alarming threat in the fight against multiresistant bacteria. The dissemination properties of antimicrobial resistance genes are supported by their detection in a diverse population of bacteria, including strains isolated from the environment. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) collected from a river ecosystem in the Barcelona metropolitan area (Spain). Identification of β-lactamases and other resistance determinants was determined as was the antimicrobial susceptibility profile. Moreover, screening of virulence factors, plasmid addiction systems, plasmid partition systems and replicon typing was performed. The results identified 8 isolates belonging to different species (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Raoultella ornithinolytica). The most prevalent enzyme was KPC-2 (n = 6), followed by VIM-1 (n = 2) and IMI-2 (n = 1), whereas no OXA-48-type was detected. In addition, one strain was positive for both KPC-2 and VIM-1 enzymes. All the carbapenemase-encoding plasmids carried at least one plasmid addiction or partition system, being vagCD and parAB the most frequently detected, respectively. E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates carried a low number of virulence-associated factors and none of the detected clones has previously been identified in the clinical setting. These findings support the high dissemination potential of the carbapanemase-encoding genes and reinforce the idea that the environment is another reservoir that may play an important role in the capture, selection and dissemination of carbapenem resistance genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Piedra-Carrasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fàbrega
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Calero-Cáceres
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Thais
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cornejo-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Maryury
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brown-Jaque
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mir-Cros
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Maite
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muniesa
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2419-5909
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: González-López
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015780:Carbapenems / Q000494:pharmacology; D017753:Ecosystem; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D045483:Rivers / Q000382:microbiology*; D013030:Spain; D018440:beta-Lactam Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015780:Carbapenems; D001618:beta-Lactamases; C063912:carbapenemase