Emergence in Italy of Klebsiella pneumoniae Sequence Type 258 Producing KPC-3 Carbapenemase

KPC-type carbapenemases are emerging resistance determinants in Klebsiella pneumoniae and other gram-negative pathogens, being an increasingly important mechanism of acquired resistance to carbapenems and other β-lactams (9, 10). KPC producers have recently undergone an important dissemination in the United States, Israel, and Greece and have been sporadically detected elsewhere in Europe, Latin America, and Asia (see references 1, 5, and 9 and references therein). Population analyses of KPC-producing K. pneumoniae isolates by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) have revealed the successful international spread of a sequence type (ST) 258 clone (1, 7, 12).