Colonization of a hand washing sink in a veterinary hospital by an Enterobacter hormaechei strain carrying multiple resi
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RESEARCH
Colonization of a hand washing sink in a veterinary hospital by an Enterobacter hormaechei strain carrying multiple resistances to high importance antimicrobials Kanishka Kamathewatta1, Rhys Bushell1, Fannana Rafa2, Glenn Browning2, Helen Billman‑Jacobe2 and Marc Marenda1*
Abstract Background: Hospital intensive care units (ICUs) are known reservoirs of multidrug resistant nosocomial bacteria. Targeted environmental monitoring of these organisms in health care facilities can strengthen infection control pro‑ cedures. A routine surveillance of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producers in a large Australian veterinary teaching hospital detected the opportunistic pathogen Enterobacter hormaechei in a hand washing sink of the ICU. The organism persisted for several weeks, despite two disinfection attempts. Four isolates were characterized in this study. Methods: Brilliance-ESBL selective plates were inoculated from environmental swabs collected throughout the hos‑ pital. Presumptive identification was done by conventional biochemistry. Genomes of multidrug resistant Enterobacter were entirely sequenced with Illumina and Nanopore platforms. Phylogenetic markers, mobile genetic elements and antimicrobial resistance genes were identified in silico. Antibiograms of isolates and transconjugants were established with Sensititre microdilution plates. Results: The isolates possessed a chromosomal Tn7-associated silver/copper resistance locus and a large IncH12 con‑ jugative plasmid encoding resistance against tellurium, arsenic, mercury and nine classes of antimicrobials. Clusters of antimicrobial resistance genes were associated with class 1 integrons and IS26, IS903 and ISCR transposable elements. The blaSHV-12, qnrB2 and mcr-9.1 genes, respectively conferring resistance to cephalosporins, quinolones and colistin, were present in a locus flanked by two IS903 copies. ESBL production and enrofloxacin resistance were confirmed phenotypically. The isolates appeared susceptible to colistin, possibly reflecting the inducible nature of mcr-9.1. Conclusions: The persistence of this strain in the veterinary hospital represented a risk of further accumulation and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance, prompting a thorough disinfection of the ICU. The organism was not recov‑ ered from subsequent environmental swabs, and nosocomial Enterobacter infections were not observed in the hospi‑ tal during that period. This study shows that targeted routine environmental surveillance programs to track organisms
*Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Werribee, VIC 3030, Australia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appro
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