RETRACTED ARTICLE: Prevalence and emergence of carbapenemases-producing Gram-negative bacteria in Mediterranean basin

Abstract

The emergence and the global spread of carbapenemases concern to health services worldwide. Their celestial rise among Gram-negative bacilli has challenged both the scientific and pharmaceutical sectors. Indeed, infections caused by these bacteria have limited treatment options and have been associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. Carbapenemase producers are mainly identified among Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii and still mostly in hospital settings and rarely in the community. They are closely related to KPC, VIM, IMP, NDM, and OXA-48 types. The encoding genes are mostly plasmid located and associated with various mobile genetic elements. The Mediterranean area is of interest due to a great diversity and population mixing. The prevalence of carbapenemases is particularly high and variant among countries, partially depending on the population exchange relationship between the regions and the possible reservoirs of each carbapenemase. This review described the epidemiology of carbapenemases in this region of the world highlighting the worrisome situation and the need to screen and detect these enzymes to prevent and control their dissemination especially as it is clear that very few novel antibiotics will be introduced in the next few years, making the dissemination of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria of crucial importance worldwide.

VIM‐1 carbapenemase‐producing Escherichia coli in gulls from southern France

“…It encodes for a class B carbapenemase which also hydrolyzes all β-lactams except monobactams, and evades all β-lactamase inhibitors. VIM-1-bearing bacteria have been reported from clinical samples in Greece although they are beginning to spread in southwestern Europe, notably in Spain and Italy, while France seems, for now, to be less affected (Canton et al, 2012;Mathlouthi et al, 2016).…”

“…Verona integron-encoded metalloβ-lactamases (VIM) belong to class B carbapenemase and were first described in Italy in 1999 (Lauretti et al, 1999). Greece is now considered to be the epicenter of the spread of VIM-producing Enterobacteriaceae to other European countries where they have been subsequently detected including Spain, Italy and France (Canton et al, 2012;Mathlouthi, Al-Bayssari, Bakour, Rolain, & Chouchani, 2016). In the light of these data, further research is clearly needed to understand the potential role of some wild species in the spread of carbapenem-resistant bacteria.…”

Occurrence and molecular characterization of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) among Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from cancer patients

“…Carbapenems are frequently used as the drugs of choice in treatment of infections caused by MDR Gram-negative bacteria including A. baumannii. Increased resistance to carbapenems in A. baumannii has raised special concerns during the last decade, especially since it is associated mostly with the production of acquired carbapenemases belonging to either carbapenem-hydrolyzing OXA-type class D -β-lactamases or class B metallo-β-lactamases [32,[35][36]. The results of this study demonstrate that all representative examined 45 MDR A. baumannii isolates were 100% positive for genes of blaOXA-51, and blaOXA-23, but none of the isolates was positive to OXA-24 or OXA-58.…”

“…It is well known that blaOXA-51 gene, is an enzyme that naturally exists in A. baumannii and has very weak carbapenem hydrolyzing activity [37].While the presence of plasmid-borne blaOXA-23 and blaOXA-58 genes have been shown to contribute significantly to carbapenem resistance in A. baumannii worldwide [38]. However, the distribution of carbapenem-hydrolyzing oxacillinases varies among regions and hospitals [3,[32][33][34][35]38]. A study used multivariate analysis demonstrated that the risk factors for acquisition of MDR A. baumannii were not related specifically to presence of cancer, but rather due to exposure of patients to health care procedures, especially dialysis, antibiotic treatment and length of stay in intensive care unities [4,7].…”

Determination of the carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from samples obtained from Shahrekord hospitals and determination of their minimum inhibitory concentration

“…In addition, carbapenems are considered as selective therapeutic agents for gramnegative, penicillin-and cephalosporin-resistant bacterial infections due to their extended-spectrum and the lack of hydrolysis by β-lactamases enzymes (8). The excessive increase in antibiotic resistance among gramnegative bacteria has challenged drug therapies (12,13). In this study, the frequency of E. coli strains resistant to meropenem and imipenem was investigated by the disk diffusion method, followed by determining their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) by using the E-test strip.…”