First description of the emergence of Enterobacter asburiae producing IMI-2 carbapenemase in the Czech Republic

The acquired class A carbapenemase IMI-1 was originally described in an Enterobacter cloacae isolated in a Californian hospital in 1984 [1]. Since their first description, IMI-type carbapenemases have occasionally been detected in Enterobacteriaceae from the USA, Europe, the Far East and South Africa. Here we report the case of an IMI-2-producing Enterobacter asburiae identified in the Czech Republic. In 2016, E. asburiae Easb-36567cz was recovered from a patient admitted to a Czech hospital. Easb-36567cz was isolated from a rectal swab during routine screening for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE). Easb-36567cz was resistant to aminopenicillins, aminopenicillin/sulbactam combinations, second-generation cephalosporins, aztreonam, carbapenems and colistin but was susceptible to piperacillin/tazobactam, cefotaxime, ceftazidime and various non-beta-lactam antibiotics (Table 1). Carbapenemase production was hypothesised by a positive result in the matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) imipenem hydrolysis assay [2]. Easb-36567cz tested negative by the ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA)–meropenem test, whilst the respective boronic acid–meropenem combined-disk test appeared positive indicating production of a class A carbapenemase. PCR and sequencing showed that Easb-36567cz carried blaIMI-2 [3].