Carbapenems are the beta-lactams of choice for treating infections caused by multi-drug resistant klebsiella pneumoniae and are also regarded as a last resort for the treatment of potentially fatal health-care-associated infections. However, carbapenem resistance has been widely reported as a result of the production of carbapenemases such as the New Delhi metallo beta lactamase 1(NDM-1) by the bacterium. NDM-1 is an enzyme that confers resistance to all ß-lactams, particularly carbapenems. The blaNDM-1 gene is carried by plasmids and hence moves easily to other microorganisms via horizontal gene transfer, thereby increasing the probability of emergence of drug-resistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms. The main objective of this study was to study the prevalence of blaNDM-1 induced carbapenem resistance in K. pneumoniae isolated from clinical specimens in Imo state, Nigeria. Out of the 200 clinical specimens examined, 75 were positive for Klebsiella pneumoniae representing 37.5% of the total number examined (x2=14.74, P=0.0053). The prevalence of Carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae in this study was 52(69.3%) while the prevalence of NDM-1 genes among the Carbapenem-resistant isolates of K. pneumoniae was 4(8%). The results obtained revealed the presence of the New Delhi metallo Beta lactamase 1 (NDM-1) in Klebsiella pneumoniae from clinical specimens in Imo state, Nigeria. Hence, reinforcement of infection control measures is required to eliminate the spread of these resistant genes.
Anekwe et al. (Mon,) studied this question.