The rapid increase in carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales is a global health concern. During 2017-2020, a total of 44 Escherichia coli isolates co-harbouring blaNDM-5 and blaOXA-181 were collected from patients at 17 hospitals in Seoul and characterized based on antimicrobial susceptibility, resistance genes and plasmid replicons detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Clonal relatedness was estimated using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). All isolates had an identical multidrug resistance profile, including resistance to carbapenems, cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and susceptibility to amikacin, colistin, and tigecycline. Resistance genes (blaCTX-M-15, blaCMY-2, blaTEM-1B, blaOXA-1, aac(6')-Ib-cr, and qnrS) and plasmid replicons (IncFIA, IncFIB, and IncX3) was observed in almost all isolates. All isolates belonged to ST410 and were genetically similar (>88% similarity), with some PFGE types shared among isolates from different hospitals. Analysis of the whole genome revealed that the isolates clustered together with other strains of the international high-risk clone ST410 B4/H24RxC from other countries. These findings underline the ongoing spread of the high-risk clone of NDM-5- and OXA-181-producing E. coli ST410 B4/H24RxC among hospitals in Seoul. Continuous monitoring and implementation of infection control measures are crucial to track and prevent further spread of these resistant strains.
Keywords: Escherichia coli; carbapenemase; molecular epidemiology; multiple drug resistance.
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