Identification of blaOXA-51-like, blaOXA-58, blaDIM-1, and blaVIM Carbapenemase Genes in Hospital Enterobacteriaceae Isolates from Sierra Leone

We describe the results of a molecular epidemiological survey of 15 carbapenemase-encoding genes from a recent collection of clinical isolates from Mercy Hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone. The most salient findings revealed that (i) 60% of the isolates harbored multiple carbapenemase genes; (ii) the bla(DIM-1) gene, which has previously only been reported in The Netherlands, is also circulating in this environment; and (iii) bla(OXA-51-like) and bla(OXA-58) genes, which were thought to reside exclusively in Acinetobacter species, can also be found in members of the Enterobacteriaceae.