Study of an outbreak of cefoxitin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a general hospital.

During a 3-month period, six Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates resistant to cefoxitin and penicillin-inhibitor combinations were derived from patients in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Athens, Greece. Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis provided evidence of the clonal origin of the isolates. Conventional techniques and ribotyping were inadequate in proving that the isolates were related. Resistance was due to a plasmidic class C beta-lactamase.