Transcontinental Dissemination of Enterobacterales Harboring bla_NDM-1 in Retail Frozen Shrimp

The global food trade provides a means of disseminating antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria and genes. Using selective media, carbapenem-resistant species of Enterobacterales (Providencia sp. and Citrobacter sp.), were detected in a single package of imported frozen shrimp purchased from a grocery store in Ohio, USA. Polymerase chain reaction confirmed that both isolates harbored bla_NDM-1 genes. Following PacBio long read sequencing, the sequences were annotated using the NCBI Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline. The bla_NDM-1 genes were found in IncC plasmids, each with different antimicrobial resistance island configuration. We found that the bla_NDM-1 AMR islands had close relationships with previously reported environmental, food, and clinical isolates detected in Asia and the United States, highlighting the importance of the food chain in the global dissemination of antimicrobial resistance.