Imipenem Resistance in Clostridium difficile Ribotype 017, Portugal

Abstract

We describe imipenem-resistant and imipenem-susceptible clinical isolates of Clostridium difficile ribotype 017 in Portugal. All ribotype 017 isolates carried an extra penicillin-binding protein gene, pbp5, and the imipenem-resistant isolates had additional substitutions near the transpeptidase active sites of pbp1 and pbp3. These clones could disseminate and contribute to imipenem resistance.

Keywords

• Clostridium difficile infection
• imipenem resistance
• penicillin-binding proteins
• ribotype 017
• multidrug resistance
• bacteria