In vivo acquisition of a plasmid-mediated bla(KPC-2) gene among clonal isolates of Serratia marcescens

J Clin Microbiol. 2010 Jul;48(7):2546-9. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00264-10. Epub 2010 May 12.

Abstract

Three patients admitted to a Greek hospital were infected with Serratia marcescens isolates that exhibited reduced susceptibility to carbapenems and harbored Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) enzymes. In two of these cases, the patients were initially infected by carbapenem-susceptible S. marcescens isolates. Molecular typing and plasmid analysis suggested that all three patients had clonally indistinguishable isolates of S. marcescens that acquired a plasmid-mediated bla(KPC-2) gene during the hospitalization.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
  • Carbapenems / pharmacology
  • Carbapenems / therapeutic use
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
  • Female
  • Greece
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Middle Aged
  • Plasmids / genetics*
  • Pneumonia, Bacterial / drug therapy
  • Pneumonia, Bacterial / microbiology
  • Serratia Infections / drug therapy
  • Serratia Infections / microbiology*
  • Serratia marcescens* / drug effects
  • Serratia marcescens* / genetics
  • Serratia marcescens* / isolation & purification
  • beta-Lactam Resistance / genetics
  • beta-Lactamases / genetics*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Carbapenems
  • beta-lactamase KPC-2
  • beta-Lactamases