Characterization of a small plasmid carrying the carbapenem resistance gene from community-acquired sequence type 880 in China.

BACKGROUND

has emerged as an important pathogen associated with hospital- and community-acquired infections. Community-acquired pneumonia is characterized by a fulminant course and high mortality rates. In this study, we report the identification of a community-acquired carbapenem-resistant strain carrying the gene.

METHODS

This   isolate was recovered from a male patient diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia, septic shock, and respiratory failure. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed and the minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by the broth microdilution method. Whole-genome sequencing was performed using both long-read MinION and short-read Illumina platforms to fully characterize the -carrying plasmid of the A52. The in silico multilocus sequence typing and genomic epidemiological analysis of the closely related isolates were further elucidated by our recently updated BacWGSTdb server.

RESULTS

The isolate was resistant to meropenem and remained susceptible to several other antimicrobial agents. Whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis indicated that this   isolate belonged to the rare sporadic clone sequence type 880 and the gene was located on the 8,493-bp plasmid pA52-OXA-72. This plasmid exhibited only partial similarity to different OXA-72-encoding plasmids (size range: 8,771-12,056 bp) in various spp. recovered from patients and other reservoirs in different countries.

CONCLUSION

This study described the first case of fulminant carbapenem-resistant community-acquired pneumonia caused by a rare sporadic clone in China. Adequate surveillance is warranted to monitor the emergence of as a community pathogen.