Extended-spectrum -lactamase-producing enterobacteriaceae in community-acquired urinary tract infections in São Luís, Brazil

The number of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in community-acquired urinary tract infections worldwide is probably underestimated because of the technical difficulties encountered with their de-tection. In this study, out of 5,672 urine samples analyzed, 916 were positive for uropathogens, 472 of them being enterobacteria of which 7.6 % produced -lactamases. Analysis of the isolated from 36 patients showed a high level of antibiotic resistance, with 52.7 % and 80.5 % of isolates expressing blaTEM and blaCTX-M, respectively. Key words: enterobacteriaceae, antimicrobial resistance, ESBL, community-acquired infections. Beta-lactamases are bacterial enzymes that inactivate -lactam antibiotics by hydrolysis, which results in ineffec-tive compounds. One group of -lactamases, extended-spectrum -lactamases (ESBLs), are able to hydrolyze and cause resistance against a wide variety of novel -lactams, including third-generation cephalosporins and mono-bactams, but not against cephamycins and carbapenem