Isolation of an Integron-Borne bla _VIM-4 Type Metallo-β-Lactamase Gene from a Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clinical Isolate in Hungary

Abstract

The first integron-borne metallo-␤-lactamase gene was isolated in Hungary. The bla VIM-4 gene is located on a class 1 integron that also carries a novel bla OXA -like gene. The integron is harbored by a serotype O12 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain and shows high structural similarity to integrons isolated in Greece and Poland.

Establishing Clonal Relationships between VIM-1-Like Metallo-β-Lactamase-Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains from Four European Countries by Multilocus Sequence Typing

“…The structures of the variable regions of integrons carrying the bla VIM gene cassette were determined for strains PA66, AK5493, Ps100, PA555, 67MG, 85MG, 105MG, and 134MG (for the other strains, it had previously been determined) (12,20,31).…”

“…The P. aeruginosa strains investigated in this study are listed in Table 1. They included (i) two representatives of a VIM-1-producing dominant Italian clone spreading in different hospitals since 1997 (the index strain VR-143/97 and strain PPV97, which were epidemiologically unrelated to each other and slightly different by PFGE profiling and which carried bla VIM integrons with different structures) (12,31); (ii) four additional VIM-1-producing P. aeruginosa isolates from Italy (representative of those spreading more recently in a long-term care and rehabilitation facility in northern Italy [L. Pagani et al, unpublished results]); and (iii) four VIM-4-producing isolates from Greece (n ϭ 1), Sweden (n ϭ 1) (11), and Hungary (n ϭ 2) (20). In addition, a VIM-2-producing isolate from Sweden (AK5493), obtained from a Greek national patient who had recently been hospitalized in Greece, was also included in the comparison.…”

“…In addition, a VIM-2-producing isolate from Sweden (AK5493), obtained from a Greek national patient who had recently been hospitalized in Greece, was also included in the comparison. For all of the unpublished isolates, identification was confirmed by the API 20 NE test (bioMerieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France), the presence of bla VIM genes was established by PCR, using consensus primers for bla VIM (20), and the allelic variant of the MBL gene was determined by direct sequencing of both strands of PCR products (31). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed with Etest (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden), using CLSI breakpoints for interpretation (2).…”

“…Although originally confined to the Mediterranean countries, VIM-producing P. aeruginosa strains have recently been detected in northern and eastern Europe. In 2003 and 2004, reports on the isolation of VIM-4 MBL-producing P. aeruginosa were published from Sweden and Hungary; in both cases, however, isolates were derived from Greek patients (11,20). Furthermore, detection of both VIM-2 and VIM-4 in P. aeruginosa was reported from Poland (25,42).…”

Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Producing Metallo-β-Lactamases in a Large Centralized Laboratory

“…Pseudomonas aeruginosa producing metallo-␤-lactamases (MBLs) was first reported from Japan in 1991 (43) and since then has been described from various parts of the world, including Asia (19,44,48), Europe (16,21,29,32), Australia (30), South America (10), and North America (39). Metallo-␤-lactamases belong to Ambler class B and have the ability to hydrolyze a wide variety of ␤-lactam agents, such as penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems (23).…”