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  • Piekar, María; Álvarez, Verónica E; Knecht, Camila; Leguina, Carolina; García Allende, Natalia; Carrera Páez, Laura; Gambino, Anahí S; González Machuca, Adrián; Campos, Josefina; Fox, Barbara; Carpio, Eduardo; Aguilar, Andrea; Alonso, Fernando M; Fernández Canigia, Liliana; Quiroga, María Paula; Centrón, Daniela

    Journal of global antimicrobial resistance., 03/2023, Volume: 32
    Journal Article

    The worldwide dissemination of carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli lineages belonging to high-risk clones poses a challenging public health menace. The aim of this work was to investigate genomic features of a colonizing multidrug-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing E. coli from our institution. Whole-genome sequencing was done by Illumina MiSeq-I, and de novo assembly was achieved using SPAdes. Resistome, mobilome, plasmids, virulome, and integrons were analysed using ResFinder, AMRFinder, ISFinder, PlasmidFinder, MOB-suite, VirulenceFinder, and IntegronFinder. Sequence types (STs) were identified with pubMLST and BIGSdb databases. Conjugation assays were also performed. Escherichia coli HA25pEc was isolated from a rectal swab sample taken within the framework of the hospital epidemiological surveillance protocol for detection of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales. Escherichia coli HA25pEc corresponded to the first report of ST648 co-harbouring bla and bla in Latin America from a colonized patient. It had 19 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), including bla , located on a Tn4401a isoform. Conjugation assays revealed that bla was not transferred by conjugation to E. coli J53 under our experimental conditions. Escherichia coli ST648 has been detected previously in companion and farm animals as well as in hospital- and community-acquired infections worldwide. Although scarcely reported as KPC-producers, our finding in a culture surveillance with several acquired ARGs, including bla , alerts the potential of this clone for worldwide unnoticed spreading of extreme drug resistance to β-lactams. These data reinforce the importance of carrying out molecular surveillance to identify reservoirs and warn about the dissemination of new international clones in carbapenemase-bearing patients.