Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae: Results of a Laboratory Surveillance Program in an Italian General Hospital (August 2014-January 2015) : Surveillance of Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae.

In this study we report the analysis of 131 Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) clinical isolates from patients hospitalized in various wards, of Perugia General Hospital, from August 2014 to January 2015. Forty two isolates (32.1 %), were resistant to at least one carbapenem antibiotic and, among these isolates, 14 (33.3 %) exhibited resistance to colistin. All isolates were carbapenemases producers and 41 (97.6 %) harboured the bla KPC gene. Carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates (CRKPs) were, also, typed for the genotypic diversity and the results revealed the circulation of two major clusters.This surveillance study evidences the spread of CRKP isolates in Perugia General Hospital and confirms that carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates have reached epidemic dissemination in Italy. In addition the percentage of resistance to colistin resulted to be less than that observed in other hospital laboratories across Italy. In conclusion the circulation of these isolates should be monitored and appropriate policy of surveillance must be used, in a target manner, in order to reduce the spread of carbapenem-resistant isolates.

Typing of nosocomial outbreaks of Acinetobacter baumannii by use of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been evaluated for the identification of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii nosocomial outbreaks in comparison with the repetitive sequence-based PCR DiversiLab system. The results suggest that MALDI-TOF MS can be used for real-time detection of Acinetobacter outbreaks before results from DNA-based systems are available.