Environmental Microbiota Represents a Natural Reservoir for Dissemination of Clinically Relevant Metallo-β-Lactamases

Abstract
A total of 10 metallo-β-lactamase-producing isolates of six different species, including Brevundimonas diminuta ( n = 3), Rhizobium radiobacter ( n = 2), Pseudomonas monteilii ( n = 1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( n = 2), Ochrobactrum anthropi ( n = 1), and Enterobacter ludwigii ( n = 1), were detected in the sewage water of a hospital. The presence of bla VIM-13 associated with a Tn 1721 -class 1 integron structure was detected in all but one of the isolates ( E. ludwigii , which produced VIM-2), and in two of them ( R. radiobacter ), this structure was located on a plasmid, suggesting that environmental bacteria represent a reservoir for the dissemination of clinically relevant metallo-β-lactamase genes.

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