Infection and Drug Resistance (Sep 2021)

Importance of Surveillance of New Delhi Metallo-Beta-Lactamase Klebsiella pneumoniae: Molecular Characterization and Clonality of Strains Isolated in the Lazio Region, Italy

  • Spaziante M,
  • Venditti C,
  • Butera O,
  • Messina F,
  • Di Caro A,
  • Tonziello G,
  • Lanini S,
  • Cataldo MA,
  • Puro V

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 3659 – 3665

Abstract

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Martina Spaziante,1 Carolina Venditti,2 Ornella Butera,2 Francesco Messina,2 Antonino Di Caro,2 Gilda Tonziello,1 Simone Lanini,1 Maria Adriana Cataldo,1 Vincenzo Puro1 1Emerging Infection Unit and Regional Service for Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases (SeRESMI), National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” IRCCS, Rome, Italy; 2Laboratory of Microbiology, National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” IRCCS, Rome, ItalyCorrespondence: Maria Adriana Cataldo Tel +39 0655170786Email [email protected]: New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (NDM-Kpn) strains have been causing healthcare-associated infections worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe the molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and to analyze the clonality of NDM-Kpn isolates collected between January 2019 and June 2020 from patients admitted to hospitals from the Lazio region, Italy.Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on all NDM-Kpn strains; clonality and genetic relationships were further investigated.Results: During the surveillance period, 17 NDM-Kpn isolates were obtained from 17 patients admitted to seven different hospitals. Eight different sequence types (STs) were detected: ST147 (n = 4), ST383 (n = 4), ST15 (n = 3), ST11 (n = 2), ST17 (n = 1), ST29 (n = 1), ST307 (n = 1) and the newly identified ST4853 (n = 1). Genetic relationships were further investigated by the WGS-based core genome MLST (cgMLST) scheme, and 5 cluster types (CTs) were identified. Whereas a substantial overall heterogeneity among isolates was detected (8 different STs were identified out of 17 isolates), the strains within each cluster showed a very high level of genome similarity.Discussion: Our study highlights the key role of surveillance, which allowed taking a picture of a part of the NDM-Kpn strains circulating in Italy, adding further insight into their molecular features.Keywords: carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase, surveillance, healthcare-associated infections

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