Introduction: Members of the Acinetobacter genus are key pathogens that cause healthcare-associated infections, and they tend to spread and develop new antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Oxacillinases are primarily responsible for resistance to carbapenem antibiotics. Higher rates of carbapenem hydrolysis might be ascribed to insertion sequences, such as the ISAba1 sequence, near bla OXA genes. The present study examined the occurrence of the genetic elements bla OXA and ISAba1 and their relationship with susceptibility to carbapenems in clinical isolates of the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-Acinetobacter baumannii complex. Methods: Isolates identifi ed over 6 consecutive years in a general hospital in Joinville, Southern Brazil, were evaluated. The investigation of 5 families of genes encoding oxacillinases and the ISAba1 sequence location relative to bla OXA genes was conducted using polymerase chain reaction. Results: All isolates presented the bla OXA-51-like gene (n = 78), and 91% tested positive for the bla OXA-23-like gene (n = 71). The presence of ISAba1 was exclusively detected in isolates carrying the bla OXA-23-like gene. All isolates in which ISAba1 was found upstream of the bla OXA-23-like gene (n = 69) showed resistance to carbapenems, whereas the only isolate in which ISAba1 was not located near the bla OXA-23-like gene was susceptible to carbapenems. The ISAba1 sequence position of another bla OXA-23-like -positive isolate was inconclusive. The isolates exclusively carrying the bla OXA-51-like gene (n = 7) showed susceptibility to carbapenems. Conclusions: The presence of the ISAba1 sequence upstream of the bla OXA-23-like gene was strongly associated with carbapenem resistance in isolates of the A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex in the hospital center studied.

Plasmid-mediated polymyxin resistance was first described in 2015, in China, in Escherichia coli carrying the mcr-1 (Mobile Colistin Resistance-1) gene. Since then, it has become a major public health challenge worldwide, representing a major threat to human and animal health. In addition, there are still few reports on the prevalence of mcr-1 in Enterobacteriaceae isolated from humans, animals and food. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the occurrence of the mcr-1 gene in bacterial isolates with phenotypic resistance to polymyxin B obtained from clinical specimens of companion animals. Phenotypic resistance to polymyxin B were determined by broth microdilution and the susceptibility profile to other antimicrobials (amikacin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, ampicillin, ampicillin/sulbactam, aztreonam, cefazolin, cefepime, cefotaxime, cefoxitin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, ertapenem, gentamicin, imipenem, marbofloxacin, meropenem, phosphomycin, piperacillin/tazobactam, tetracycline, ticarcillin/clavulanate, tobramycin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole) by disc-diffusion agar method. The extraction of bacterial DNA was performed via heat shock followed by spectrophotometric evaluation. To verify the presence of mcr-1, the Polymerase Chain Reaction was employed using specific primers, followed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The positive isolates had the corresponding amplicons sequenced. In this study, there were identified the first isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp. and Enterobacter spp. carrying the mcr-1 gene derived from specimens of companion animals in Brazil. Our results suggest the dissemination of resistance to polymyxins in the community and the environment, highlighting the need for surveillance and optimized treatment guidelines.

We report the occurrence in Brazil of the bla NDM-1 gene in Acinetobacter pittii, prior to the previously described first reports regarding the species Providencia rettgeri and Enterobacter hormaechei. Clinical isolates were investigated by polymerase chain reaction followed by bidirectional sequencing, and species was confirmed by 16S rDNA sequencing and matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight spectrometry. A. pittii carrying bla NDM-1 was confirmed in a patient with no national or international travel history, or transfer from another hospital. The findings warn of the possibility of silent spread of bla NDM-1 to the community.

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Background: The spread of carbapenemase- and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing gram-negative bacilli (GNB) represent a global public health threat that limits therapeutic options for hospitalized patients. This study aimed to evaluate the in-vitro susceptibility of β-lactam-resistant GNB to ceftazidime-avibactam (C/A) and ceftolozane-tazobactam (C/T), and investigate the molecular determinants of resistance. Methods: Overall, 101 clinical isolates of Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa collected from a general hospital in Brazil were analyzed. Susceptibility to the antimicrobial agents was evaluated using an automated method, and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC50/90) of C/A and C/T were determined using Etest ® . The β-lactamase-encoding genes were investigated using polymerase chain reaction. Results: High susceptibility to C/A and C/T was observed among ESBL-producing Enterobacterales (100% and 97.3% for CLSI and 83.8% for BRCAST, respectively) and carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (92.3% and 87.2%, respectively). Carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae exhibited high resistance to C/T (80%- CLSI or 100%- BRCAST) but high susceptibility to C/A (93.4%). All carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates were susceptible to C/A, whereas only one isolate was susceptible to C/T. Both antimicrobials were inactive against metallo-β-lactamase-producing K. pneumoniae isolates. Resistance genes were concomitantly identified in 44 (44.9%) isolates, with bla CTX-M and bla SHV being the most common. Conclusions: C/A and C/T were active against microorganisms with β-lactam-resistant phenotypes, except when resistance was mediated by metallo-β-lactamases. Most C/A- and C/T-resistant isolates concomitantly carried two or more β-lactamase-encoding genes (62.5% and 77.4%, respectively).