Outbreak of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing a new carbapenem-hydrolyzing class A beta-lactamase, KPC-3, in a New York Medical Center.

ABSTRACT: From April 2000 to April 2001, 24 patients in intensive care units at Tisch Hospital, New York, N.Y., were infected or colonized by carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified a predominant outbreak strain, but other resistant strains were also recovered. Three representatives of the outbreak strain from separate patients were studied in detail. All were resistant or had reduced susceptibility to imipenem, meropenem, ceftazidime, piperacillin-tazobactam, and gentamicin but remained fully susceptible to tetracycline. PCR amplified a blaKPC allele encoding a novel variant, KPC-3, with a His(272)-->Tyr substitution not found in KPC-2; other carbapenemase genes were absent. In the outbreak strain, KPC-3 was encoded by a 75-kb plasmid, which was trans

SUBMITTER: Woodford N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC529220 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature