Prevalence of carbapenemase-producing organisms at the Kidney Center of Rawalpindi (Pakistan) and evaluation of an advanced molecular microarray-based carbapenemase assay.

AIM: A DNA microarray-based assay for the detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes was used to study carbapenemase-producing organisms at the Kidney Center of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

METHODS: The evaluation of this assay was performed using 97 reference strains with confirmed AMR genes. Testing of 7857 clinical samples identified 425 Gram-negative bacteria out of which 82 appeared carbapenem resistant. These isolates were analyzed using VITEK-2 for phenotyping and the described AMR assay for genotyping.

RESULTS: The most prevalent carbapenemase gene was blaNDM and in 12 isolates we detected two carbapenemase genes (e.g., blaNDM/blaOXA-48).

CONCLUSION: Our prevalence data from Pakistan show that - as in other parts of the world - carbapenemase-producing organisms with different underlying resistance mechanisms are emerging, and this warrants intensified and constant surveillance.