The production of São Paulo metallo-β-lactamase (SPM-1) is the most common carbapenem resistance mechanism detected among multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates in Brazil. Dissemination of SPM-1-producing P. aeruginosa has been restricted to the nosocomial settings, with sporadic reports of environmental isolates due to contamination by hospital sewage. Herein, we described the detection and molecular characterization of SPM-1-producing P. aeruginosa recovered from the microbiota of migratory birds in Brazil. Three hundred gram-negative bacilli were recovered from cloacal and choanal swabs of Dendrocygna viduata during a surveillance study for detection of carbapenem-resistant isolates. All isolates were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. Molecular typing was performed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing. MICs were determined by agar dilution, except for polymyxin B. Antibiotic resistance genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by DNA sequencing. Transcriptional levels of oprD and efflux system encoding genes were also carried out by quantitative real-time PCR. Nine imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates were recovered with 7 of them carrying bla. Additional resistance genes (rmtD-1, blaaacA4, and aac(6')-Ib-cr) were also detected in all 9 isolates. The SPM-1-producing isolates showed high MICs for all β-lactams, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides, being susceptible only to polymyxin B. Interestingly, all isolates showed the same PFGE pattern and belonged to ST277. Overexpression of MexXY-OprM and MexAB-OprM was observed in those isolates that did not harbor bla. Our results suggest that migratory birds might have played a role in the dissemination of SPM-1-producing P. aeruginosa within the Brazilian territory.

We characterize by whole-plasmid-sequence (WPS) two-plasmid-borne blaOXA-58 obtained from Acinetobacter seifertii (Asp-1069) and A. baumannii (Acb-45063) clinical strains recovered 17 years apart from distinct Brazilian regions. Multilocus sequence type (MLST) analysis showed that the Asp-1069 and Acb-45063 strains belong to ST551 and ST15/CC15, respectively. WPS analysis demonstrated that blaOXA-58 was located in two distinct plasmids named pAs1069_a (24,672 bp/44 open reading frames [ORFs]) and pAb45063_b (19,808 bp/24 ORFs), which belong to the GR8/GR23 (repAci23) and GR4 (repAci4) incompatibility groups, respectively. The genetic environments surrounding blaOXA-58 revealed that it was flanked by two intact ISAba3 copies on pAb45063_b, which differed from pAs1069_a. In the latter, the upstream ISAba3 copy was truncated by insertion of ISAba825 element. Although Re27-specific recombination sites were found adjacent to ISAba3-blaOXA-58-ISAba3 arrangement on pAb45063_b, such structures were absent on pAs1069_a. The conserved ISAba125-araC1-lysE arrangement was disrupted by TnaphA6 harboring the aminoglycosides resistance gene aphA6 on pAs1069_a, while an IS26-blaTEM-1-aac(3)-IIa-IS26 genetic structure was found upstream from ISAba3-blaOXA-58-ISAba3 on pAb45063_b. Other two plasmids, pAb45063_a (183,767 bp/209 ORFs) and pAs1069_b (13,129 bp/14 ORFs), were also found in the OXA-58-producing Acinetobacter species strains, harboring the strA and strB genes and the sul2 gene, which confer resistance to streptomycin and sulfonamides, respectively. The plasmid-mediated virulence factors corresponding to genes tonB, spl, glmM, ppa, sulP, and map were found in both strains, as well distinct toxin-antitoxin system-encoding genes stbD and relE (pAs1069_a), brnT and brnA (pAb45063_b), and xreE (pAb45063_a). Although infrequently reported in Brazil, plasmid-borne blaOXA-58 showed a complex and diverse genetic backbone that confers stability in different Acinetobacter species that have been isolated from nosocomial settings over time. IMPORTANCE Although the blaOXA-58 gene has been infrequently described in Brazil, contrasting with other bordering South American countries, we verified the maintenance of this resistance determinant over time among carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species isolates, not only in nosocomial settings but also in the environment. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to have used WPS analysis to evaluate the genetic surroundings of blaOXA-58 in Brazil. Moreover, the A. seifertii and A. baumannii clinical strains evaluated in this study were recovered 17 years apart in hospitals located in distinct Brazilian geographic regions.

Escherichia coli cause the majority of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Virulence plays an important role in the initial stages of interaction with the host, facilitating colonization of the urinary tract tissue. The purpose of this study was to assess whether there is a relationship between virulence and antibiotic resistance in the persistence of uropathogenic E. coli strains. This study included five patients with UTI between 2001 and 2009. The antibiotic resistance phenotype of 29 E. coli isolates was determined by the disk diffusion method. Clonal relationship was determined through M13 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting. Phylogeny, virulence factors, β-lactamases, and replicon typing were studied through PCR. Antibiogram profiles were found from different patients and corresponded to CTX-M-2, CTX-M-15, CTX-M-32, and TEM-52 enzymes. Plasmids belonged essentially to incompatibility group IncF. No clonal relationship was observed among isolates from different patients, except for patients 4 and 5. Phylogenetic group A was predominant. Our work showed that commensal group A possesses the same virulence factors as the pathogenic groups B1 and D. E. coli common pilus and type 1 fimbriae could play an important role in the persistence in the host and in symptomatic UTI, respectively, which, combined with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), are a cause of the dissemination of microorganisms in the hospital and the community.

A cinetobacter species are ubiquitous pathogens that are broadly encountered in the environment, with some species, like Acinetobacter baumannii, A. pittii, and A. nosocomialis, more frequently detected in nosocomial settings (1). During the last decades, carbapenem resistance rates among such microorganisms have increased mainly because of the acquisition of carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D ␤-lactamase (CHDL)-encoding genes. The dissemination of bla OXA-23 , bla OXA-143 , and more recently bla OXA-72 is the main cause of carbapenem resistance among Brazilian A. baumannii clinical isolates (2). In contrast, bla OXA-58 has been rarely reported in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter species in Brazil (3-5). However, Cayô and colleagues recently described two OXA-58-producing A. seifertii isolates from patients hospitalized at a tertiary-care hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. Interestingly, these isolates were recovered more than 20 years ago (1993 and 1997) (3). Here, we describe an OXA-58-producing A. seifertii isolate colonizing a black-necked swan residing in the lakes of the São Paulo zoo. During a surveillance study, 37 black-necked swans (Cygnus melanocoryphus) residing in the lakes of the São Paulo zoo were screened for colonization by carbapenemresistant Gram-negative bacilli. Swabs of both the choana and the cloaca were collected. The swabs were streaked onto MacConkey agar supplemented with imipenem at 1 g/ml (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO), followed by Gram staining. We recovered a cloacal carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative coccobacillus (Ac-12.1) that was initially identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry as a member of the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii complex. Subsequently, Ac-12.1 was identified to the species level as A. seifertii by rpoB sequencing (6). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution and interpreted according to the EUCAST guidelines (7). Ac-12.1 showed high piperacillintazobactam (Ͼ256 and 4 g/ml), ampicillin-sulbactam (32 and 16 g/ml), cefepime (16 g/ml), ceftazidime (32 g/ml), and ceftriaxone (64 g/ml) MICs. It was resistant to imipenem (MIC, 16 g/ml), meropenem (MIC, 8 g/ml), amikacin (MIC, Ͼ256 g/ml), and polymyxin B (MIC, 4 g/ml). In contrast, Ac-12.1 was susceptible to gentamicin (MIC, 4 g/ml), ciprofloxacin (MIC, 1 g/ml), levofloxacin (MIC, 0.25 g/ml), and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (MICs, 2 and 38 g/ml). Screening for carbapenemase production by Blue Carba test was positive with 2 h of incubation, as previously described (8). Molecular characterization of carbapenemaseencoding genes was performed by PCR, followed by DNA sequencing with specific primers (9, 10), and demonstrated that Ac-12.1 carried the bla OXA-58 gene. No additional

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