Epidemiology, Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of Carbapenem-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria from a Libyan Hospital

International audienceAntimicrobial resistance, particularly resistance to carbapenems, has become one of the major threats to public health. Seventy-two isolates were collected from patients and hospital environment of Ibn Sina Hospital, Sirte, Libya. Antibiotic susceptibility tests, using the disc diffusion method and E-Test strips, were performed to select carbapenem-resistant strains. The colistin (CT) resistance was also tested by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). RT-PCR was conducted to identify the presence of carbapenemase encoding genes and plasmid-mediated mcr CT resistance genes. Standard PCR was performed for positive RT-PCR and the chromosome-mediated CT resistance genes (mgrB, pmrA, pmrB, phoP, phoQ). Gram-negative bacteria showed a low susceptibility to carbapenems. Molecular investigations indicated that the metallo-β-lactamase New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamases-1 was the most prevalent (n = 13), followed by Verona integron-encoded metallo-beta-lactamase (VIM) enzyme (VIM-2 [n = 6], VIM-1 [n = 1], and VIM-4 [n = 1]) that mainly detected among Pseudomonas spp. The oxacillinase enzyme OXA-23 was detected among six Acinetobacter baumannii, and OXA-48 was detected among one Citrobacter freundii and three Klebsiella pneumoniae, in which one coharbored the Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase enzyme and showed resistance to CT (MIC = 64 μg/mL) by modification in pmrB genes. In this study, we report for the first time the emergence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying the blaNDM-1 gene and belonging to sequence type773 in Libya. Our study reported also for the first time CT resistance by mutation in the pmrB gene among Enterobacteriaceae isolates in Libya

Isolation of Carbapenem and Colistin Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria Colonizing Immunocompromised SARS-CoV-2 Patients Admitted to Some Libyan Hospitals

International audienceIn this work, we describe, for the first time, the occurrence of carbapenem-resistant bacteria colonizing COVID-19 patients who developed hospital-associated infections with carbapenemase-producing, Gram-negative bacteria at some isolation centers of COVID-19 in the eastern part of Libya. Our results confirmed that the overuse of antimicrobials, such as carbapenem antibiotics, during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, mainly K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii , as well as colistin resistance