Rapid detection of carbapenem resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae directly from positive blood cultures during an outbreak in the Tuscany region in Italy

collected at the Microbiology Unit and transferred to the Bactec FX Instrument (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA), 10.405 of which became positive.Among the positive BC bottles, 965 were for K. pneumoniae.For each patient, only the first positive BC bottle was processed by the method herein described: in total, 406 K. pneumoniae were directly identified by MALDI-TOF MS in about 30', while the molecular detection of genes involved in carbapenem resistance took 48'.Carbapenem resistance mechanisms were found in 166 (40.9%)BCs.All strains were subsequently analysed phenotypically reaching 100% agreement with the molecular method.As shown in figure 1, the proportion of KPC-Kp producer was 45% in 2016, 43% in 2017, 31% in 2018, and 25% in 2019.Both in 2016 and in 2017, two strains of K. pneumoniae harbouring carbapenemase VIM gene were detected; K. pneumoniae harbouring carbapenemase OXA-48 gene was detected Rapid detection of carbapenem resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae directly from positive blood cultures during an outbreak in the Tuscany region in Italy