Occurrence of Klebsiella pneumoniae ST244 and ST11 extensively drug-resistant producing KPC, NDM, OXA-370 in wastewater, Brazil

Abstract Aims To investigate the occurrence of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) and their clonal relationships from hospital and municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Methods and results Eighteen Kl. pneumoniae strains recovered from three WWTPs were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization–time of flight (MALDI-TOF). The antimicrobial susceptibility were evaluated by disk-diffusion and the carbapenemases production by Carbapenembac®. The carbapenemases genes were investigated by real-time PCR and the clonal relationship through multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Thirty nine % (7/18) of isolates were classified as multidrug-resistant (MDR), 61.1% (11/18) extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and 83.3% (15/18) showed carbapenemase activity. Three carbapenemase-encoding genes were found, blaKPC (55%), blaNDM (27.8%) and blaOXA-370 (11.1%) as well five sequencing types ST11, ST37, ST147, ST244, and ST281. ST11 and ST244, sharing four alleles were grouped into clonal complex 11 (CC11). Conclusions Our results show the importance of monitoring antimicrobial resistance in WWTPs effluents to minimize the risk of spreading bacterial load and ARGs in aquatic ecosystems, using advanced treatment technologies to reduce these emerging pollutants at WWTPs.