Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of hospitalised patients colonised or infected by different types of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) and to analyse the differences in their outcome.
Methods: This was a retrospective comparative study of all patients colonised or infected by KPC-, NDM- or OXA-48-producing CPE who were hospitalised between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2019. Microbiological, demographic and clinical data were collected from the patients' computerised files.
Results: One type of CPE was isolated in 285 patients, including 138 with KPC-CPE, 94 with NDM-CPE and 53 with OXA-48-CPE. The most common CPE types were KPC-Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 47), OXA-48-Escherichia coli (n = 38), NDM-Enterobacter cloacae complex (n = 35) and KPC-Citrobacter freundii (n = 37). All three groups of patients were similar with respect to their risk factors, with the exception of previous exposure to antimicrobials that was more common in patients with KPC-CPE compared with OXA-48-CPE. Also, these patients were more likely to be co-infected by other multidrug-resistant bacteria. Clinical infections were more common in KPC-CPE than in OXA-48-CPE carriers (9.9% vs. 1.9%; P = 0.033). No other demographic or clinical variables were found to be correlated with clinical infections.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that colonisation by OXA-48-CPE might be less risky compared with KPC-CPE.
Keywords: CPE; Carbapenemase; Colonisation; Enterobacterales; Hospital-acquired infection.
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