Imipenem resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa of animal origin.

摘要

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative aerobic bacillus, found ubiquitously in nature. P. aeruginosa is one of the most clinically important Gram-negative bacterial pathogens with high nosocomial infection rates reported worldwide, particularly in immune-compromised patients. Its success as a nosocomial pathogen can be largely attributed to its ability both to confer intrinsic resistance to several antibiotics and acquire additional resistance mechanisms through horizontal gene transfer. Resistance to antimicrobials in P. aeruginosa is widely reported; however, resistance to the carbapenem antibiotics presents a significant problem as these are often reserved as the drugs of last resort for the treatment of MDR or complicated P. aeruginosa infections. Carbapenem resistance has been attributed to a number of mechanisms, but primarily to the production of beta-lactamases, including the carbapenemases, and permeability changes, particularly the decrease or absence of expression of the imipenem-specific porin, OprD. Such mechanisms are most commonly found in clinical isolates and are likely to be as a direct result of exposure to the carba-penems during therapy. In confronting carbapenem resistance, few viable therapeutic options remain. We report the incidence of imipenem resistance in P. aeruginosa strains of animal origin.