Molecular epidemiology of Enterobacteriaceae that produce VIMs and IMPs from the SMART surveillance program

A study was designed to characterize 35 non-repeat isolates of VIM- and IMP-producing Enterobacteriaceae obtained from the SMART surveillance program. Characterization was done by polymerase chain reaction, sequencing, and multi-locus sequencing. The VIM-1, -2, -5, -26, -27, -33, and IMP-1 and -26-producing Enterobacteriaceae were obtained from Greece, Italy, Spain, Philippines, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, USA, and India. Plasmids varied in size from 60 to 300 kb and belonged to IncA/C, IncF, IncHI1, IncL/M, IncN, and IncK incompatibility groups. The most common gene cassettes consisted of blaIMP-26, qacG, aacA4 and blaVIM, aacA7, dhfrI, and aadA1. Intercountry, interhospital, intrahospital, interspecies, and intraclonal spread of blaVIM and blaIMP containing plasmids and sequence types (STs) occurred in Greece, Italy, Spain, and Philippines. ST147 with IncA/C and IncF plasmids is an important drug-resistant ST among Klebsiella pneumoniae with VIMs. Our study highlights the importance of surveillance programs using molecular techniques as powerful tools to identify the transmission of STs with their respective plasmids.