Clonal Spread of Hospital-Acquired NDM-1-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in an Italian Neonatal Surgery Unit: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

This article reports a rapid and unexpected spread of colonization cases of NDM-1 carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in a neonatal surgical unit (NSU) at Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, Italy. Between the 16th of November 2020 and the 18th of January 2021, a total of 20 NDM-1 carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (n = 8) and E. coli (n = 12) were isolated from 17 out of 230 stool samples collected from neonates admitted in the aforementioned ward and time period by an active surveillance culture program routinely in place to monitor the prevalence of colonization/infection with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative microorganisms. All strains were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, detection of resistance determinants, PCR-based replicon typing (PBRT) and multilocus-sequence typing (MLST). All isolates were highly resistant to most of the tested antibiotics, and molecular characterization revealed that all of them harbored the blaNDM-1 gene. Overall, IncA/C was the most common Inc group (n = 20/20), followed by IncFIA (n = 17/20), IncFIIK (n = 14/20) and IncFII (n = 11/20). MLST analysis was performed on all 20 carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) strains, revealing three different Sequence Types (STs) among E. coli isolates, with the prevalence of ST131 (n = 10/12; 83%). Additionally, among the 8 K. pneumoniae strains we found 2 STs with the prevalence of ST37 (n = 7/8; 87.5%). Although patient results were positive for CPE colonization during their hospital stay, infection control interventions prevented their dissemination in the ward and no cases of infection were recorded in the same time period.

New Antimicrobials for the Treatment of Neonatal Sepsis Caused by Multi-Drug-Resistant Bacteria: A Systematic Review

“…Multi-drug resistance (MDR) bacteria were alarmingly reported in the latest years as causing agents of both EOS and LOS [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Moreover, several outbreaks caused by MDR organisms in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) recently occurred in different regions, including high-income countries (HICs) [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], and consistent colonization of both patients admitted to NICUs [ 15 , 16 , 17 ] and of pregnant women [ 18 ] is reported, threatening the outcomes of both EOS and LOS cases.…”