ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Carbapenem resistance mediated by carbapenemases is increasingly being reported worldwide. This study was conducted to know the occurrence of important carbapenem resistance encoding genes in gram-negative bacilli (GNB) causing complicated urinary tract infection (CUTI), and to look at the genetic diversity of these isolates. Methods: The study was carried out on 166 consecutive carbapenem resistant uropathogens (CRU) isolated from cases with CUTI during 2008 and 2012. Carbapenemase production was characterized phenotypically and polymerase chain reaction was used to detect blaVIM, blaIMP, blaKPC, and blaNDM-1. BOX- PCR was done on 80 randomly selected isolates for molecular typing. Results: The blaVIM gene was present in 34 (43.6%), blaIMP in five (6.4%) and none of the isolates from 2008 had blaNDM-1 or blaKPC genes. Among the isolates from 2012, blaNDM-1 gene was present in 47 (53.4%), blaVIM in 19 (24.4%), blaIMP in one (1.1%) and none had blaKPC. There were nine isolates during the two years which had multiple genes encoding carbapenemases; while 66 did not have any of the genes tested. Of the 80 isolates subjected to BOX-PCR, 58 could be used for analysis and showed, presence of multiple clusters of carbapenem resistant isolates and absence of a single dominant clone. Interpretation & conclusions: The blaNDM-1 gene was absent in our isolates obtained during 2008 but was present amongst Enterobacteriaceae isolated in 2012. The blaKPC gene was also not found. Nine isolates obtained during the two years had multiple genes encoding carbapenemases confirming the previous reports of emergence of GNB containing genes encoding multiple carbapenemases. Typing using BOX-PCR indicated that this emergence was not because of clonal expansion of a single strain, and multiple strains were circulating at a single point of time.