VIM-1 carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli isolated from retail seafood, Germany 2016

Abstract

In human medicine, carbapenems are one of the last treatment options for serious infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria [1]. Therefore, the increasing number of reports describing carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae are worrying. In the past six years, it has become obvious that the occurrence of carbapenemase-producing bacteria is no longer limited to clinical settings. Increasing numbers of carbapenemase-producing bacteria have been isolated from the environment, wild birds and companion and food- producing animals all over the world [2]. Although the use of carbapenems is prohibited in food-producing animals and restricted for pets in most European countries, these findings illustrate the continuous spread of these highly resistant bacteria accompanied by emerging public health problems. In 2011, the first VIM-1 producing Salmonella Infantis and Escherichia coli were isolated in German fattening farms for pigs and chickens [3,4]. European Union legislation implemented monitoring of carbapenem-resistance in Salmonella and E. coli in food-producing animals (chickens, turkeys, pigs and cattle) and the derived meat samples [5]. Similarly structured resistance surveillance programmes, targeting bacterial isolates derived from food-producing animals and retail meat, are in place globally [6]. Vegetables, fruits or seafood are frequently consumed raw and thus may become a source of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, including carbapenemase-producing microorganisms [6-8]. Microbial contamination of the environment with faecal bacteria is an important route of transmission. For example, bacteria in river water may move on to seas and oceans [9]. Therefore, seafood harvested from contaminated regions serves as a vehicle for the transmission of these bacteria [10]. On the other hand, aquaculture is a fast-growing food production sector [11]. To prevent bacterial infections in the farmed fish, intensive aquaculture is often accompanied by increased use of a wide range of chemotherapeutic agents, in particular antibiotics [11]. This situation supports the occurrence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in seafood products. Fish and seafood play an important role on the food market. The global food fish supply has increased at an average annual rate of 3.2% (1961–2013); fish consumption per capita increased similarly from an average of 9.9 kg/year in the 1960s to 20.1 kg/year in 2014 [12]. Several publications report the presence of antibiotic- resistant bacteria in seafood [10,13-15]. The first carbapenemase-producing bacteria derived from seafood were described in 2014, when a blaVIM-2 containing Pseudomonas fluorescens was isolated from a squid from South Korea [8]. One year later, a study described the occurrence of blaOXA-48-producing bacteria in 3.3% of the investigated seafood samples (squid, sea squirt, clams and seafood medley) from China and Korea [6]. In the present study, seafood samples from retail markets in Berlin, Germany, were investigated for the presence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae.