Polyamine Distribution Patterns in Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes and Comamonas

Pseudomonas cepacia as well as all five Alcaligenes and three Comamonas species tested belonging to the beta subclass of Proteobacteria ubiquitously contained 2-hydroxyputrescine and putrescine as the major polyamines. Cadaverine was found in P. cepacia. Putrescine and spermidine were the major polyamines of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida belonging to the gamma subclass and Pseudomonas saccharophila whose taxonomic positions have not been established. Polyamine distribution profiles can serve as a chemotaxonomic marker within Pseudomonas species. Relative distribution patterns of the major polyamines of P. aeruginosa did not changed at different culture periods in spite of increase or decrease of their levels during growth

Detection of Carbapenemase-Producing Acinetobacter baumannii in a Hospital

Acinetobacter baumannii strains resistant to both imipenem (IPM) and ceftazidime (CAZ) were isolated from 1994 through 1996 at Gunma University Hospital. Nine isolates from different inpatients were examined for carbapenem-hydrolyzing activity and for the carbapemase gene bla(IMP) by the PCR method. All nine isolates were carbapenemase-producing strains that hydrolyzed IPM and that harbored bla(IMP). The bla(IMP) gene was transmissible by conjugation to an IPM-susceptible recipient strain of A. baumannii and conferred resistance to IPM, CAZ, cefotaxime (CTX), ampicillin (AMP), and piperacillin (PIP). Either intermediate or high-level resistance to amikacin (AMK) was transferred from two and five strains, respectively, concomitantly with bla(IMP), and gentamicin (GEN) resistance was also transferred in one instance of high-level AMK resistance. Comparative examination of clinical isolates for resistance patterns to nine drugs, IPM, CAZ, CTX, aztreonam, AMP, PIP, AMK, GEN, and norfloxacin, in addition to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns with NotI-digested genomic DNA, confirmed nosocomial transmission of infections involving carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii strains