Occurrence of blaOXA-23 gene in imipenem-susceptible Acinetobacter baumannii

The aim of the current study was to describe the occurrence of the blaOXA-23 gene and the ISAba1 element in imipenem-susceptible Acinetobacter baumannii strains. By performing the polymerase chain reaction mapping using combinations of ISAba1 forward primers and the blaOXA-23-like gene reverse primers, we demonstrated that the ISAba1 element did not occur upstream of the blaOXA-23 gene in five of 31 isolates, which explained the lack of resistance to imipenem despite the presence of the blaOXA-23 gene. All of the blaOXA-23-positive isolates were susceptible to imipenem and meropenem with minimal inhibitory concentration < 4 µg/mL. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis revealed four genotypes among the five blaOXA-23-positive isolates. The current report of the blaOXA-23 gene in imipenem-susceptible isolates provided evidence that this gene may be silently spread in a hospital environment and highlighted the threat of undetected reservoirs of carbapenemase genes.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Carvalho,Karyne Rangel, Carvalho-Assef,Ana Paula D'Alincourt, Santos,Lia Galvão dos, Pereira,Maria José Félix, Asensi,Marise Dutra
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2011
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762011000400020
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