International and regional spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Europe.

Budia-Silva, Mabel; Kostyanev, Tomislav; Ayala-Montaño, Stefany; Bravo-Ferrer Acosta, Jose; Garcia-Castillo, Maria; Cantón, Rafael; Goossens, Herman; Rodriguez-Baño, Jesus et al. · Nat Commun · 2024

Where this comes from

Abstract

Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) are of particular concern due to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes associated with mobile genetic elements. In this study, we collected 687 carbapenem-resistant strains recovered among clinical samples from 41 hospitals in nine Southern European countries (2016-2018). We identified 11 major clonal lineages, with most isolates belonging to the high-risk clones ST258/512, ST101, ST11, and ST307. bla<sub>KPC-like</sub> was the most prevalent carbapenemase-encoding gene (46%), with bla<sub>OXA-48</sub> present in 39% of isolates. Through the combination and comparison of this EURECA collection with the previous EuSCAPE collection (2013-2014), we investigated the spread of high-risk clones circulating in Europe exhibiting regional differences. We particularly found bla<sub>KPC-like</sub> ST258/512 in Greece, Italy, and Spain, bla<sub>OXA-48</sub> ST101 in Serbia and Romania, bla<sub>NDM</sub> ST11 in Greece, and bla<sub>OXA-48-like</sub> ST14 in Türkiye. Genomic surveillance across Europe thus provides crucial insights for local risk mapping and informs necessary adaptions for implementation of control strategies.

Medical subject headings