Characterization of Carbapenem-Resistant Strains Isolated from Hospitalized Patients in Palestine.

The American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes as a source of global outbreaks and epidemics especially due to its increasing resistance to commercially available antibiotics. In this study, 69 single patient multidrug resistant isolates collected from all over Palestine, except Gaza, were studied. All the isolates were resistant to all the -lactam antibiotics including the carbapenems. Of the 69 isolates, 82.6% were positive for , 14.5% were positive for , and 3% were positive for . None were positive for and . In addition, 5.8% and 0% were positive for and , respectively. Of the 69 isolates, none were positive for the aminoglycoside gene while 93% were positive for the gene. The acetyltransferases and genes tested positive in 22% and 13% of the isolates, respectively. The biofilm-producing virulence gene was detected in all isolates. Finally, Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) of 13 isolates revealed that more than one strain of was circulating in Palestinian hospitals as results revealed that 7 isolates were of ST208, 2 isolates ST218, 1 isolate ST231, 1 isolate ST348, and 2 new Sequence Types. The detection of these drug resistant pathogens is a reminder of the importance of active surveillance for resistant bacteria in order to prevent their spread in hospital settings.