Open AccessOutbreak of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase VEB-1-Producing Isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii in a French Hospital
Author(s) -
Laurent Poirel,
Olivier Menuteau,
Nathalie Agoli,
C. Cattoën,
Patrice Nordmann
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.41.8.3542-3547.2003
Subject(s) - acinetobacter baumannii , integron , outbreak , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , cloxacillin , intergenic region , pseudomonas aeruginosa , acinetobacter , virology , carriage , antibiotics , gene , medicine , antibiotic resistance , bacteria , genetics , genome , ampicillin , pathology
Twelve clonally related and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates were recovered during a 4-month period from 12 patients hospitalized at the Valenciennes Hospital in France. Antibiograms determined by the double-disk diffusion technique on cloxacillin-containing plates detected a clavulanic acid-inhibited extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL). PCR and sequencing identified the gene encoding the Ambler class A ESBL VEB-1. This gene was located on the chromosome and was part of a class 1 integron identical to that previously identified in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from Thailand. Additionally, seven clonally related bla(VEB-1)-positive A. baumannii strains were identified in the immediate environment of the hospitalized patients. This is the first report of the ESBL VEB-1 in Acinetobacter spp. and the first description of VEB-1-producing strains as a source of an outbreak occurring outside Southeast Asia. This report underlines the difficulty of the identification of ESBLs in A. baumannii.