Dissemination of bla(VIM) in Greece at the peak of the epidemic of 2005-2006: clonal expansion of Klebsiella pneumoniae clonal complex 147

VIM-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=21) isolated from ten Greek hospitals during 2003-2007 were characterized with multilocus sequence typing (MLST), semi-automated repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) (Diversilab), plasmid replicon typing, serotyping and screening for multiple resistance determinants. The isolates were selected to represent different strain clusters (defined by >80% similarity) according to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. MLST identified three major clonal complexes (CCs); CC147 (n=8), CC18 (n=5) and CC14 (n=3). Plasmid replicon typing showed that IncA/C and/or IncFII(K) replicons were detected among isolates in each of the major CCs. Good concordance was observed between semi-automated-rep PCR genotyping and MLST.