Genomic epidemiology of global carbapenemase-producing enterobacter spp., 2008-2014

We performed whole-genome sequencing on 170 clinical carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter spp. isolates collected globally during 2008–2014. The most common carbapenemase was VIM, followed by New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM), Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase, oxacillin 48, and IMP. The isolates were of predominantly 2 species (E. xiangfangensis and E. hormaechei subsp. steigerwaltii) and 4 global clones (sequence type [ST] 114, ST93, ST90, and ST78) with different clades within ST114 and ST90. Particular genetic structures surrounding carbapenemase genes were circulating locally in various institutions within the same or between different STs in Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Spain, Serbia, and Vietnam. We found a common NDM genetic structure (NDM-GE-U.S.), previously described on pNDM-U.S. from Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC BAA-214, in 14 different clones obtained from 6 countries spanning 4 continents. Our study highlights the importance of surveillance programs using whole-genome sequencing in providing insight into the molecular epidemiology of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter spp.The John Mung Program from Kyoto University, Japan (Y.M.) and a research grant from the Calgary Laboratory Services (grant no. 10015169) to J.D.D.P. This work was also supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant nos. R01AI090155 (B.N.K.) and R21AI117338 (L.C.), and the Genome Center for Infectious Diseases grant no. U19AI110819 from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (J.C.V.I.).http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eidam2019Veterinary Tropical Disease