Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 2003, p. 3989-3993, Vol. 47, No. 12
0066-4804/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.47.12.3989-3993.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia,1 The JONES Group/JMI Laboratories, North Liberty, Iowa, and The Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts2
Received 9 January 2003/ Returned for modification 17 May 2003/ Accepted 30 August 2003
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
In recent years, it has also become apparent that this species can acquire and express genes encoding extended-spectrum ß-lactamases (ESBLs) (6, 24). While common in Klebsiella pneumoniae and (to a lesser extent) Escherichia coli, these ESBL genes are known to spread to other members of the Enterobacteriaceae, but to date this appears to occur infrequently (4, 14, 24).
The presence of ESBLs in Enterobacteriaceae (E. coli or Klebsiella spp.) is generally suspected when broad-spectrum cephalosporin MICs are raised compared to those seen for normal strains and when the activity of broad-spectrum cephalosporins is significantly improved in the presence of clavulanate. However, elevated MICs of broad-spectrum cephalosporins for Enterobacter species usually imply stable derepression of the Bush group 1 enzyme (5). The Bush group 1 enzymes are generally not inhibited by the presence of clavulanate. Hence, enhanced broad-spectrum cephalosporin activity with Enterobacter species is highly suggestive of the presence of an ESBL.
This work was presented in part at the 40th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Toronto, Canada, 17 to 20 September, 2000 (paper 1988).
Clinically significant strains of bacteria from the SENTRY program were collected in 17 hospitals (in 8 countries or locales) in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa between 1998 and 2001. The isolates were from hospitalized patients with bacteremia or lower respiratory infections, wound or soft-tissue infections, or urinary infections and from a range of intensive-care patient infection sites.
All isolates were initially tested by broth microdilution (according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards [NCCLS] methods) (21) with 30 compounds, including ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefepime, ticarcillin-clavulanate, piperacillin-tazobactam, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, and imipenem. The breakpoints for resistance were those recommended by the NCCLS (22).
All isolates
for which ceftriaxone MICs were >1 µg/ml and/or
ceftazidime MICs were >2 µg/ml (the screening
concentrations) were selected for confirmatory testing. A concentration
of >2 µg/ml was chosen for ceftazidime (instead of the
>1 µg/ml concentration recommended by the NCCLS)
because the lowest concentration tested in 2001 was 2 µg/ml.
However, of the 200 strains collected from 1998 to 2001 that did not
undergo ESBL phenotypic testing, ceftazidime had a MIC of 2
µg/ml for none, confirming that a cutoff of >2
µg/ml was reasonable for this compound. A total of 46 strains
for which ceftriaxone MICs were
1 µg/ml and
ceftazidime MICs were
2 µg/ml were also examined (by
determinations of false-negative values) to verify that the
confirmatory test was valid.
ESBL phenotype testing was conducted
as recommended by the NCCLS in Table
2a of document M7-A5
(21). Phenotypic
confirmatory tests were performed with an agar dilution method using
ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, and cefepime with and without 4 µg of
clavulanate/ml. A reduction in MIC of
3 log2
dilutions in the presence of clavulanate for one or more of the three
cephalosporins was interpreted as evidence of ESBL
production.
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 2. Prevalence
of resistance to other antimicrobials in Enterobacter cloacae
by ß-lactamase phenotype
|
Application of the ESBL screening MIC criteria selected 260 (44%) strains; the MICs of both ceftriaxone and ceftazidime were elevated for 247 of the strains, the MIC of ceftriaxone alone was elevated for 9 of the strains, and the MIC of ceftazidime alone was elevated for 4 of the strains. Rates of screening positivity differed between countries and by year for each country, with the 4-year average ranging from 35% in Japan to 61% in mainland China (Table 1).
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 1. Prevalence
of reduced third-generation cephalosporin susceptibility and ESBL
production among Enterobacter cloacae strains accessed by
country and year
|
Strains with the ESBL phenotype were much more likely to be nonsusceptible to multiple other antimicrobials than either ceftazidime-ceftriaxone-susceptible or -resistant strains without presumptive ESBLs (Table 2). Indeed, resistance to piperacillin-tazobactam, cefepime, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was uncommon among ceftazidime-ceftriaxone-susceptible isolates and only 11% were not susceptible to ticarcillin-clavulanate. Of the 241 strains for which ceftazidime and/or ceftriaxone MICs were >8 µg/ml, only 3% were intermediate to cefepime and 7% were resistant. Of those strains with the ESBL phenotype, 3% were cefepime intermediate and 15% were resistant. One notable feature of the ESBL phenotype was the lower rate of nonsusceptibility to piperacillin-tazobactam (32%) compared to that of the non-ceftazidime-ceftriaxone-susceptible ESBL-negative strains (77%). Almost all strains of all phenotypes were susceptible to imipenem; the imipenem MIC for one non-ceftazidime-ceftriaxone-susceptible ESBL-negative strain was intermediate (8 µg/ml).
Susceptibility profiles of non-ceftazidime-ceftriaxone-susceptible strains were examined to determine whether any pattern might distinguish the ESBL-negative (stably derepressed only) phenotype from the ESBL-positive phenotype. ESBL-positive strains were more likely than ESBL-negative strains (18% versus 5%; P < 0.001) to require cefepime MICs above 8 µg/ml and to be susceptible to piperacillin-tazobactam (67% versus 15%; P < 0.0001). Although they were uncommon (n = 11), strains for which ceftriaxone MICs but not ceftazidime MICs were above 8 µg/ml were also more likely (55% versus 37%) to give ESBL-positive results. This was not true for strains (n = 23) for which ceftazidime but not ceftriaxone MICs were above 8 µg/ml (41% versus 59%).
Further analysis of ß-lactam MICs was undertaken to determine whether there were optimum MICs that would aid in distinguishing ESBL-positive strains (Table 3). A ceftazidime MIC of >2 µg/ml, a ceftriaxone MIC of >1 µg/ml, a cefepime MIC of >0.25 µg/ml, and an aztreonam MIC of >1 µg/ml all had excellent sensitivity but only moderate specificity. Thus, all would be reasonable choices as tests for selecting those strains on which synergy testing should be performed. Only cefepime at >0.25 µg/ml gave significantly better specificity (74%) than the conventional broad-spectrum cephalosporins or aztreonam (67 to 69%), although its specificity was low (26%) among the subset of strains that were non-ceftazidime-ceftriaxone susceptible.
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 3. MIC
and susceptibility patterns predictive of ESBL production
|
16 µg/ml)
and nonsusceptibility to nalidixic acid (MIC > 8
µg/ml), gentamicin (MIC > 4 µg/ml),
tetracycline (MIC > 8 µg/ml), and
trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (MIC > 1 µg/ml) were
moderately predictive of the presence of ESBLs (Table
3). Although there are no NCCLS methods for detecting ESBLs in Enterobacter species, we believe that the methods used here provide consistent and valid results. The emergence of ESBLs in Enterobacter species has been unexpected, given the high propensity of this genus to generate mutants stably derepressed for group 1 cephalosporinase production. The competitive advantage of acquiring ESBLs to E. cloacae is unclear, although potentially it could allow the species to acquire resistance to cefepime and similar cephalosporins by combining the ESBL (to which they are vulnerable) with stably derepressed AmpC enzyme (to which they are not). It has been suggested that the acquisition of ESBLs may be related to the acquisition of plasmids encoding other resistances such as aminoglycosides (27). The very frequent (69% of ESBL-positive strains) association with gentamicin resistance in our study supports this view. Judging on the basis of our findings, the same may also be true for resistance to tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.
We were surprised to find as many as 16% of strains showing ESBL production in E. cloacae in a range of countries from our region. ESBL producers were found in all countries, although there was a wide range (3 to 44%) of prevalence. As expected, ESBL-producing strains were often resistant to a range of other compounds, including gentamicin, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Multiresistance was more frequent than for ESBL-negative and broad-spectrum cephalosporin-susceptible strains. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that their presence reflects coselection by other antimicrobial classes.
Detection and recognition of
ESBL-producing Enterobacter species has been a diagnostic
problem. It has been generally assumed that resistance to
broad-spectrum cephalosporins implies that a strain has stable
derepression of ampC. With the emergence of ESBLs in
Enterobacter spp. and the demonstration that some of these
strains can disseminate widely
(3), reliable methods of
screening and detection of ESBL-producing Enterobacter spp.
and other non-E. coli-non-K. pneumoniae
Enterobacteriaceae are needed. The screening methods (i.e., using
ceftazidime or cefotaxime or ceftriaxone or aztreonam with MICs of
2 µg/ml for the strains) recommended for E.
coli and K. pneumoniae
(21) may not be adequate
for Enterobacter spp. due to the presence of constitutively
chromosomally inducible AmpC ß-lactamase. However, the
results of our study showed that an increased (>0.25
µg/ml) cefepime MIC may represent a reliable marker for the
presence of an ESBL. In addition, Tzelepi and coworkers have shown that
double-disk synergy testing using 20-mm spacing works reasonably well
with cefepime (and, to a lesser extent, cefpirome and aztreonam) as a
substrate (29). The use
of ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and ceftriaxone at 20-mm spacing detected
less than half of the ESBL-producing Enterobacter spp. Thus,
synergy testing with cefepime may be most reliable in detecting the
ESBL phenotype in this genus and possibly others with the AmpC
enzyme.
Enterobacter species harboring ESBLs have now been described for several countries worldwide (1-2, 6-11, 13, 15-17, 19, 23, 25-26, 28-30). Initially, the ESBLs in Enterobacter species were typical TEM or SHV enzymes (8-11, 16, 19, 23-26), but enzymes of the CTX-M class have been described more recently (1-4, 6, 7, 12). ESBLs of the VEB-1 type have been found in Enterobacter spp. from Thailand (13), the IBC-1 type in Greece (17), and the SFO type in Japan (20). We have detected ESBL-producing strains of E. cloacae in all eight countries and locales in our region, suggesting that ESBL enzymes are much more widely distributed than has previously been considered. Molecular studies, including isoelectric focusing, PCR, and ribotyping studies, are in progress to determine the predominant types and to provide any evidence of clonality. In particular, analysis for detection of the presence of CTX-M genes would be of interest, as there is only scant information on sensitivity to ceftriaxone, the broad-spectrum cephalosporin that we used in our studies, as a consequence of the effects of these enzymes (31).
The SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program was sponsored by a research grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
SENTRY Asia-Pacific participating individuals and institutions were as follows: in Australia, Graeme Nimmo, and Jacqueline Schooneveldt, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Irene Lim, Royal Adelaide Hospital, and John Turnidge and Jan Bell, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, and Keryn Christiansen and Geoffrey Coombs, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth; in Japan, Matsuhisa Inoue, Kitasato University Hospital, Kitasato, Shigeru Kohno and Yoshitsugu Miyazaki, Nagaski University Hospital, Nagasaki, and Yasuo Ono, Teikyo University Hospital, Tokyo; in Taiwan, Leu Hsieh-Shong, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, and Hsueh Po-Ren, National Taiwan University Hospital, and Yu Kwok-Yoon, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei; in mainland China, Li Jia-Tai, Beijing Medical University, Beijing, First Municipal People's Hospital of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and Zhong Nang-Shan, Guangzhou Medical College First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou; in Hong Kong, Seto Wing Hong and Raymond Leung, Queen Mary Hospital; in the Philippines, Thelma Tupasi, Makati Medical Center, Manila; in Singapore, Ling Moi-Lin, Singapore General Hospital (in 1998 only), and Timothy Barkham (from 1990 onwards), Tan Tok Seng Hospital; and in South Africa, Adrian Brink, du Buisson, Bruinette, and Partners, Johannesburg.
SENTRY Asia-Pacific participants are listed in Acknowledgments. ![]()
|
|
|---|
Gly. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
45:2269-2275.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»