Pathogenicity of Clinical OXA-48 Isolates and Impact of the OXA-48 IncL Plasmid on Virulence and Bacterial Fitness.

OXA-48 is the most common carbapenemase in Enterobacterales in Germany and one of the most frequent carbapenemases worldwide. Several reports have associated with a virulent host phenotype. To challenge this hypothesis, 35 OXA-48-producing clinical isolates of ( = 15) and ( = 20) were studied , employing the infection model and by whole-genome sequencing.