Recent EUCAST advice asserts that, with low breakpoints, susceptibility results for cephalosporins and carbapenems can be reported 'as found', even for strains with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and carbapenemases. The CLSI has similar advice, but with higher ceftazidime and cefepime breakpoints than those of EUCAST. Pharmacodynamic and animal data are used to support these views, alon...

Oxacillinase (OXA)-48-like carbapenemases remain relatively uncommon in the United States. We performed phenotypic and genotypic characterization of 30 Enterobacteriaceae producing OXA-48-like carbapenemases that were recovered from patients during 2010-2014. Isolates were collected from 12 states and not associated with outbreaks, although we could not exclude limited local transmission. The a...

A review of the literature was undertaken to delineate the current level and mechanisms of resistance to carbapenems, colistin, and tigecycline in South Africa. Thirty-two English publications and 32 National Institute of Communicable Diseases communiqués identified between early January 2000 and 20 May, 2016 showed substantial reports of NDM (n = 860), OXA-48 (n = 584), VIM (n = 131), and IMP ...

Bacteria producing Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) are rapidly emerging as a cause of multidrug-resistant infections worldwide. Bacterial isolates harbouring these enzymes are capable of hydrolysing a broad spectrum of beta-lactams including the penicillins, cephalosporins, carbapenems and monobactam. Detection of isolates harbouring carbapenemases can be inconsistent using automate...

During the last decade, carbapenem resistance has emerged among clinical isolates of the Enterobacteriaceae family. This has been increasingly attributed to the production of β-lactamases capable of hydrolyzing carbapenems. Among these enzymes, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) are the most frequently and clinically significant class-A carbapenemases. In this report, we describe the f...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was the rapid identification of bla KPC gene in 38 Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates with reduced susceptibility to carbapenems. The modified Hodge Test (MHT) was carried out to phenotypically determine whether resistance to carbapenems was mediated by a carbapenemase. The detection of the bla KPC gene was performed by real-time acid nucleic sequence-based...