Sporadic occurrence of CMY-2-producing multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli of ST-complexes 38 and 448, and ST131 in Norway

Clinical isolates of Escherichia coli with reduced susceptibility to oxyimino-cephalosporins and not susceptible to clavulanic acid synergy (n = 402), collected from Norwegian diagnostic laboratories in 2003–2007, were examined for the presence of plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamases (PABLs). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for β-lactam and non-β-lactam antibiotics using Etest and Vitek2, respectively. The AmpC phenotype was confirmed using the boronic acid test. PABL-producing isolates were detected using ampC multiplex-PCR and examined by bla_AmpC sequencing, characterization of the bla_AmpC genetic environment, phylogenetic grouping, Xbal- pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multi-locus sequence typed (MLST), plasmid profiling and PCR-based replicon typing. For the PABL-positive isolates (n = 38), carrying bla_CMY-2 (n = 35), bla_CMY-7 (n = 1) and bla_DHA-1 (n = 2), from out- (n = 23) and in-patients (n = 15), moderate-high MICs of β-lactams, except cefepime and carbapenems, were determined. All isolates were resistant to trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole. Multidrug resistance was detected in 58% of the isolates. The genes bla_CMY-2 and bla_CMY-7 were linked to ISEcp1 upstream in 32 cases and in one case, respectively, and bla_DHA-1 was linked to qacEΔ1-sull upstream and downstream in one case. Twenty isolates were of phylogenetic groups B2 or D. Thirty-three XbaI-PFGE types, including three clusters, were observed. Twenty-five sequence types (ST) were identified, of which ST complexes (STC) 38 (n = 7), STC 448 (n = 5) and ST131 (n = 4) were dominant. Plasmid profiling revealed 1–4 plasmids (50–250 kb) per isolate and 11 different replicons in 37/38 isolates; bla_CMY-2 was carried on transferable multiple-replicon plasmids, predominantly of Inc groups I1 (n = 12), FII (n = 10) and A/C (n = 7). Chromosomal integration was observed for bla_CMY-2 in ten strains. CMY-2 is the dominant PABL type in Norway and is associated with ISEcp1 and transferable, multiple-replicon IncI1, IncA/C, or IncFII plasmids in nationwide strains of STC 448, STC 38 and ST131.