Fecal carriage and molecular epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from outpatient children in Shanghai

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases 2019-08, Vol.19 (1), p.678-678, Article 678
• Main Authors: Pan, Fen, Tian, Dongxing, Wang, Bingjie, Zhao, Wantong, Qin, Huihong, Zhang, Tiandong, Zhang, Hong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beta lactamases; Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae; Carbapenemase; Carbapenems; Cefepime; Children; Children's hospitals; Demographic aspects; Diagnosis; Distribution; DNA; DNA sequencing; Enterobacteriaceae infections; Epidemiology; Escherichia coli; Fecal carriage; Genes; Genetic research; Health screening; Imipenem; Infection; Medical examination; Medical research; Medical tests; Microbial drug resistance; Molecular epidemiology; Outpatient children; Patient outcomes; Pediatrics; Polymerase chain reaction; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Stool specimen analysis; Sulbactam; Tazobactam; Tigecycline
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-019-4298-3

Fecal colonization with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is a risk factor for bacterial translocation resulting in subsequent endogenous infections. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of CRE strains colonization in stool samples of outpatient in a tertiary pediatric hospital of Shanghai, China. In a retrospective study, fecal samples were consecutively obtained from patients in 2016 and screening test for CRE was conducted by using home-made MacConkey agar. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by the broth microdilution method and β-lactamases were characterized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays and DNA sequencing. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was performed for the genetic relationships of the isolates. A total of 880 fecal samples were included for this screening test and 32 CRE strains were identified in 32 non-duplicate fecal samples from 32 children (1.3 ± 1.5 years), with a carriage rate of 3.6%. These strains mainly distributed in Klebsiella pnuemoniae (37.5%) and Escherichia coli (37.5%). All CRE strains showed high resistance to most of the routinely used antibiotics (> 90%) except for polymyxin B and tigecycline. The bla gene was the major carbapenemase gene harbored by gastrointestinal CRE strains, followed by bla , bla , and bla . Other β-Lactamase genes including bla , bla , bla , and bla were also detected. MLST analysis revealed that various sequence types (STs) were detected in these strains, with ST11 and ST37 being more prevalent in K.pneumoniae and ST101 in E.coli. This study revealed the prevalence of CRE fecal carriage in children from outpatient and urgent implementation of infection control measure should be conducted to limit the spread of CRE strains.