Identification of in Clinical Isolates From Qatar and Evaluation of Their Antimicrobial Profiles.

This study was performed to investigate the genotypic causes of colistin resistance in 18 colistin-resistant ( = 13), ( = 3) and ( = 2) isolates from patients at the Hamad General Hospital, Qatar. MIC testing for colistin was performed using Phoenix (BD Biosciences, Heidelberg, Germany) and then verified with SensiTest Colistin (Liofilchem, Zona Ind. le, Italy). Strains determined to be resistant (MIC > 4-16 μg/mL) were then whole-genome sequenced (MiSeq, Illumina, Inc.). Sequences were processed and analysed using BacPipe v1.2.6, a bacterial whole genome sequencing analysis pipeline. Known chromosomal modifications were determined using CLC Genomics Workbench v.9.5.3 (CLCbio, Denmark). Two isolates (KPN-15 and KPN-19) harboured on the IncFII(K) plasmids, pqKPN-15 and pqKPN-19, and belonged to ST383 and ST716, respectively. One isolate harboured on the plasmid pEC-12. The other 15 isolates harboured known chromosomal mutations linked to colistin resistance in the PhoPQ two-component system. Also, three strains (KPN-9, KPN-10 and KPN-15) showed disruptions due to IS elements in . To our knowledge, this marks the first description of in of human origin in Qatar. Currently, more research is necessary to trace the source of and its variants in humans in this region.