Fecal Carriage of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase and Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales Strains in Patients with Colorectal Cancer in the Oncology Unit of Amizour Hospital, Algeria: A Prospective Cohort Study.

The prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) is now disseminated worldwide. This study aims to describe the prevalence of ESBL and CPE fecal carriage in colorectal cancer patients. All patients admitted to the oncology service of Amizour hospital (Algeria) for colorectal cancer chemotherapy from March to May 2019 were screened for ESBL-E or CPE fecal carriage. After culturing on chromogenic media, the presumptive colonies were identified by mass spectroscopy. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. The β-lactamases encoding genes and plasmid-mediated quinolone-resistant genes were screened by PCR and sequencing. ESBL-E strains were recovered from rectal swabs in 6 patients (14.3%) and only 1 patient (2.4%) was found a carrier for OXA-48-producing . The most frequently encountered species among ESBL-E was ( = 5), followed by ( = 1). PCR and sequencing showed that four isolates harbored the gene and two strains harbored the gene. Also, one strain of was found to harbor both and genes. This study highlighted the fecal carriage of ESBL-E and OXA-48-producing Enterobacterales strains in colorectal cancer patients.