A piperacillin-tazobactam resistant Escherichia coli strain isolated from a faecal sample of a healthy volunteer.

As part of a surveillance programme of the prevalence of antibiotic resistance, the faecal bacteria of healthy people (n = 1348) were examined, and the antibiotic resistance of the Escherichia coli strains determined. One strain out of 142 amoxycillin-resistant isolates, E. coli strain 1662, was also resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam but susceptible to amoxycillin-clavulanic acid. The piperacillin-tazobactam resistance determinant was transferable to standard E. coli strains by conjugation. However, the strain produced a beta-lactamase with several characteristics very similar to those of the TEM-1 beta-lactamase, i.e. pI of 5.4, an M(r) value of 22,000 and a comparable substrate profile. The enzyme was as efficiently inhibited by clavulanic acid and tazobactam as the TEM-1 and TEM-2 beta-lactamases but more than the amoxycillin-clavulanic acid-resistant TRC-1 enzyme. The transferable resistance to piperacillin-tazobactam appears to be mediated by a novel resistance mechanism that has previously not been described.