Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates resistant to carbapenems were recovered from 11 patients in the hospital of Sfax, Tunisia. The isolates were closely related as shown by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and they produced VIM-4 metallo-enzyme, CTX-M-15 extended-spectrum ␤-lactamase, and CMY-4 AmpC enzyme. The bla VIM-4 gene is part of a class 1 integron.

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We characterized 67 Escherichia coli isolates with reduced susceptibility to cefotaxime obtained from 136 samples of healthy broilers housed in 36 Tunisian farms. All these isolates harboured blaCTX‐M‐1 and/or blaCMY‐2 genes located mostly on self‐conjugative IncI1 plasmids. qnrS1, qnrA6 and aac(6′)‐Ib‐cr were detected in six isolates. Considerable genetic diversity was detected among isolates from different farms. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed documentation of a high occurrence of blaCTX‐M‐1 and blaCMY‐2 in E. coli at the poultry farm level in Tunisia as well as the first description of plasmid‐mediated quinolone resistance in food animals in Tunisia which may contribute to the dissemination of these genes throughout Tunisia.

This is the first report of an outbreak due to P. stuartii isolates carrying bla(OXA-48) in Tunisia. The simultaneous expression of various resistance genes (bla(OXA-48), bla(CMY-4), bla(PER-1), qnrA and aac-6'-Ib) by P. stuartii isolates is alarming.