Environmental Microbiota Represents a Natural Reservoir for Dissemination of Clinically Relevant Metallo-β-Lactamases

Abstract

ABSTRACTA total of 10 metallo-β-lactamase-producing isolates of six different species, includingBrevundimonas diminuta(n= 3),Rhizobium radiobacter(n= 2),Pseudomonas monteilii(n= 1),Pseudomonas aeruginosa(n= 2),Ochrobactrum anthropi(n= 1), andEnterobacter ludwigii(n= 1), were detected in the sewage water of a hospital. The presence ofblaVIM-13associated with a Tn1721-class 1 integron structure was detected in all but one of the isolates (E. ludwigii, which produced VIM-2), and in two of them (R. radiobacter), this structure was located on a plasmid, suggesting that environmental bacteria represent a reservoir for the dissemination of clinically relevant metallo-β-lactamase genes.