Induction and nosocomial dissemination of carbapenem and polymyxin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Gilberto Gambero Gaspar, Fernando Bellissimo-Rodrigues, Leonardo Neves de Andrade, Ana Lúcia Darini, Roberto Martinez
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2015
• Subjects: Klebsiella pneumonia; KPC; Polymyxin B; Colistin; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0041-2015; https://doaj.org/article/2ca733d18b184431946eb0fdbb92ee0f

INTRODUCTION: Polymyxins are antimicrobial agents capable of controlling carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. METHODS: We report a cluster of four patients colonized or infected by polymyxin-resistant and Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing K. pneumoniae. RESULTS: Three patients were hospitalized in adjacent wards, and two were admitted to the intensive care unit. The index case maintained prolonged intestinal colonization by KPC-producing K. pneumoniae. Three patients received polymyxin B before the isolation of polymyxin-resistant K. pneumoniae. CONCLUSIONS: Colonization by KPC-producing K. pneumoniae and previous use of polymyxin B may be causally related to the development of polymyxin-resistant microorganisms.