First Detection of VIM-4-Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and OXA-48-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Northeastern (Annaba, Skikda) Algeria.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and molecular support of carbapenem resistance in gram-negative bacilli clinical isolates collected between March 2013 and March 2015 in three cities (Annaba, Skikda, and Guelma) in northeastern Algeria.

RESULTS

One hundred eighty-six isolates were identified as Enterobacteriaceae (161), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18), and Acinetobacter baumannii (7). Thirty-six of 186 (19.3%) were resistant to carbapenems. Among them, 11 harbored carbapenemase genes, including blaOXA-48 (2 Klebsiella pneumoniae), blaVIM-4 (2 P. aeruginosa), blaNDM-1 (2 A. baumannii), and blaOXA-23 (5 A. baumannii). In addition, other β-lactamases were detected: blaCTX-M-(15/66/139), blaSHV-(28/85/1/133), and blaTEM-1. All imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa displayed OprD mutations. Multilocus sequence typing demonstrated the presence of ST 404 and ST 219 in K. pneumoniae, ST 2 and ST 85 in A. baumannii, and ST (244, 1076, 241, 227, and 233) in P. aeruginosa.

CONCLUSION

In this study, we report the first detection of P. aeruginosa ST 1076 harboring the blaVIM-4 gene in African countries in two cities (Annaba and Skikda) in northeastern Algeria. Additionally, we report the first detection of blaOXA-48 in K. pneumoniae ST 404 and ST 219 in Algerian cities (Annaba and Skikda).