A Multispecies Cluster of VIM-1 Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales Linked by a Novel, Highly Conjugative, and Broad-Host-Range IncA Plasmid Forebodes the Reemergence of VIM-1

Abstract

In this study, we investigated VIM-1-producing Escherichia coli , Klebsiella oxytoca , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Citrobacter freundii , and Enterobacter cloacae strains, isolated in 2019 during a period of active surveillance of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in a large university hospital in Italy. VIM-1-producing strains colonized the gut of patients, with up to three different VIM-1-positive bacterial species isolated from a single rectal swab, but also caused bloodstream infection in one colonized patient.