Prevalence of blaPER-1 and Integrons in Ceftazidime-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria at a University Hospital in Turkey

In this study, we examined the prevalence of the PER-1 enzyme and the presence of clinically important integron classes in ceftazidime-resistant Gram-negative bacteria isolated at a university hospital. The bla(PER-1) gene was detected by PCR in 33 (19.5%) of the total 169 Gram-negative bacteria, including 17 (23.3%) of the 73 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates and 16 (25%) of the 64 Acinetobacter baumannii complex isolates. Molecular fingerprinting revealed that bla(PER-1) prevalence was mostly due to the dissemination of clonally related P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii complex strains. Class 1 integron (intI1) was detected in 52.7% of the 169 bacteria examined in this study. Its detection rates were estimated at 49.3% and 57.8% of the P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii complex strains isolated, respectively. It was also detected in 11 of the 16 Escherichia coli isolates and 5 of the 10 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. A single E. coli isolate and another K. pneumoniae isolate contained both class 1 and class 2 integrase genes. The results of this study revealed that clonally related bla(PER-1)-positive P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii complex strains, mostly harboring intI1, had disseminated at our hospital.