Travelers Can Import Colistin-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Including Those Possessing the Plasmid-Mediated mcr-1 Gene

Odette J Bernasconi; Esther Kuenzli; João Pires; Regula Tinguely; Alessandra Carattoli; Christoph Hatz; Vincent Perreten; Andrea Endimiani

doi:10.1128/AAC.00731-16

Travelers Can Import Colistin-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Including Those Possessing the Plasmid-Mediated mcr-1 Gene

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2016 Jul 22;60(8):5080-4. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00731-16. Print 2016 Aug.

Authors

Odette J Bernasconi¹, Esther Kuenzli², João Pires¹, Regula Tinguely³, Alessandra Carattoli⁴, Christoph Hatz², Vincent Perreten⁵, Andrea Endimiani⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
² Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland Division of Communicable Diseases, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁴ Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
⁵ Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland [email protected].

Abstract

Stool samples from 38 travelers returning from India were screened for extended-spectrum cephalosporin- and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae implementing standard selective plates. Twenty-six (76.3%) people were colonized with CTX-M or DHA producers, but none of the strains was colistin resistant and/or mcr-1 positive. Nevertheless, using overnight enrichment and CHROMagar Orientation plates supplemented with colistin, four people (10.5%) were found to be colonized with colistin-resistant Escherichia coli One cephalosporin-susceptible sequence type 10 (ST10) strain carried a 4,211-bp ISApl1-mcr-1-ISApl1 element in an IncHI2 plasmid backbone.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
Cephalosporins / pharmacology
Colistin / pharmacology*
Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics
Enterobacteriaceae / drug effects*
Enterobacteriaceae / genetics
Enterobacteriaceae / pathogenicity*
Enterobacteriaceae Infections / microbiology
Humans
India
Plasmids / genetics*
beta-Lactamases / genetics
beta-Lactamases / metabolism*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Cephalosporins
beta-Lactamases
Colistin