First Detection of VIM-4-Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and OXA-48-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Northeastern (Annaba, Skikda) Algeria

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and molecular support of carbapenem resistance in gram-negative bacilli clinical isolates collected between March 2013 and March 2015 in three cities (Annaba, Skikda, and Guelma) in northeastern Algeria. Results: One hundred eighty-six isolates were identified as Enterobacteriaceae (161), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18), and Acinetobacter baumannii (7). Thirty-six of 186 (19.3%) were resistant to carbapenems. Among them, 11 harbored carbapenemase genes, including bla(OXA-48) (2 Klebsiella pneumoniae), bla(VIM-4) (2 P. aeruginosa), bla(NDM-1) (2 A. baumannii), and bla(OXA-23) (5 A. baumannii). In addition, other -lactamases were detected: bla(CTX-M-(15/66/139)), bla(SHV-(28/85/1/133)), and bla(TEM-1). All imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa displayed OprD mutations. Multilocus sequence typing demonstrated the presence of ST 404 and ST 219 in K. pneumoniae, ST 2 and ST 85 in A. baumannii, and ST (244, 1076, 241, 227, and 233) in P. aeruginosa.Conclusion: In this study, we report the first detection of P. aeruginosa ST 1076 harboring the bla(VIM-4) gene in African countries in two cities (Annaba and Skikda) in northeastern Algeria. Additionally, we report the first detection of bla(OXA-48) in K. pneumoniae ST 404 and ST 219 in Algerian cities (Annaba and Skikda).