Enterobacter cloacae outbreak and emergence of quinolone resistance gene in Dutch hospital

Emerg Infect Dis. 2006 May;12(5):807-12. doi: 10.3201/eid1205.050910.

Abstract

An outbreak of Enterobacter cloacae infections with variable susceptibility to fluoroquinolones occurred in the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands in 2002. Our investigation showed that a qnrA1 gene was present in 78 (94%) of 83 outbreak isolates and that a qnrA1-encoding plasmid transferred to other strains of the same species and other species. The earliest isolate carrying this same plasmid was isolated in 1999. qnrA1 was located in a complex integron consisting of the intI1, aadB, qacEDelta1, sul1, orf513, qnrA1, ampR, qacEDelta1, and sul1 genes that were not described previously. On the same plasmid, 2 other class 1 integrons were present. One was a new integron associated with the bla(CTX-M-9) extended-spectrum beta-lactamase.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Base Sequence
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Communicable Diseases, Emerging / epidemiology
  • Communicable Diseases, Emerging / genetics
  • Conjugation, Genetic
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
  • Enterobacter cloacae / classification
  • Enterobacter cloacae / drug effects*
  • Enterobacter cloacae / genetics*
  • Enterobacteriaceae Infections / drug therapy*
  • Enterobacteriaceae Infections / epidemiology
  • Gene Amplification
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Netherlands / epidemiology
  • Phylogeny
  • Plasmids
  • Quinolones / pharmacology*
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Quinolones