Detection and Characterization of Carbapenemase-Producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from Hospital Effluents of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Alix Bénédicte Kagambèga; René Dembélé; Léa Bientz; Fatima M'Zali; Laure Mayonnove; Alassane Halawen Mohamed; Hiliassa Coulibaly; Nicolas Barro; Véronique Dubois

doi:10.3390/antibiotics12101494

Detection and Characterization of Carbapenemase-Producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from Hospital Effluents of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Sep 29;12(10):1494. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12101494.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Epidemiology and Surveillance of Foodborne Bacteria and Viruses, University Joseph KI-ZERBO of Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou 03 BP 7021, Burkina Faso.
² Training and Research Unit in Applied Sciences and Technologies, University of Dedougou, Dedougou 03 BP 176, Burkina Faso.
³ UMR 5234, CNRS, Fundamental Microbiology and Pathogenicity, University of Bordeaux, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
⁴ Microbiology Laboratory of the General Reference Hospital (GRH), Niamey BP 12674, Niger.

Abstract

Hospital wastewater is a recognized reservoir for resistant Gram-negative bacteria. This study aimed to screen for carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae and their resistance determinants in two hospital effluents of Ouagadougou. Carbapenem-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae were selectively isolated from wastewater collected from two public hospitals in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Bacterial species were identified via MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Carbapenemase production was studied phenotypically using antibiotic susceptibility testing via the disk diffusion method. The presence of carbapenemases was further characterized by PCR. A total of 14 E. coli (13.59%) and 19 K. pneumoniae (17.92%) carbapenemase-producing isolates were identified with different distributions. They were, respectively, bla_NDM (71.43%), bla_VIM (42.86%), bla_IMP (28.57%), bla_KPC (14.29%), bla_OXA-48 (14.29%); and bla_KPC (68.42%), bla_NDM (68.42%), bla_IMP (10.53%), bla_VIM (10.53%), and bla_OXA-48 (5.26%). In addition, eight (57.14%) E. coli and eleven (57.89%) K. pneumoniae isolates exhibited more than one carbapenemase, KPC and NDM being the most prevalent combination. Our results highlight the presence of clinically relevant carbapenemase-producing isolates in hospital effluents, suggesting their presence also in hospitals. Their spread into the environment via hospital effluents calls for intensive antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance.

Keywords: Escherichia coli; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Ouagadougou; carbapenemases; hospital effluents.

Grants and funding

A.B.K. is a doctoral student with a SCAC grant from the French government. The Cooperation and Cultural Action Department of the French Embassy in Burkina Faso financed the study under the following funding number: 130446Z.