Between July 2011 and August 2011, the New Delhi
metallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM-1) gene was detected
in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli isolates
obtained from six patients hospitalised in four health-
care facilities in northern Italy. The patient who had
been hospitalised in New Delhi, India, from February
to May 2011 and subsequently in the Bologna area,
Italy, from May to July 2011, may have been the source
of the outbreak. Our findings suggest ongoing spread
of this carbapenem-resistance gene in Italy and high-
light the need for intensive surveillance