In vitro efficacy of ceftazidime-avibactam, aztreonam-avibactam and other rescue antibiotics against carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales from the Arabian Peninsula.

Objectives: Our aim was to assess the susceptibility of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) from the Arabian Peninsula to a broad spectrum of antibiotics, including fosfomycin, ceftazidime-avibactam, and aztreonam-avibactam.

Methods: 1192 non-repeat CRE isolated in 2009-2017 from 33 hospitals in five countries of the Arabian Peninsula were tested. The minimum inhibitory concentration of 14 antibiotics was determined.

Molecular characterization of clinical and environmental carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates in a hospital of the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia.

Background: Environmental and clinical carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAb) isolated in a hospital of the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia were compared to assess the potential environmental contamination by this pathogen.

Methods: Frequent-hand-touch surfaces of intensive care (ICU), medical (MW), and surgical (SW) units were randomly sampled for a month-long period, and the CRAb identified were compared to clinical isolates of the same period by PFGE and bla gene sequencing. Carbapenemase and ribosomal methylase genes, ISAba1 link to bla or to bla, respectively were detected by PCR.

Epidemic IncX3 plasmids spreading carbapenemase genes in the United Arab Emirates and worldwide.

Purpose: Plasmids of the incompatibility group X type 3 (IncX3) were described carrying various carbapenemase genes in carbapenemase-producing (CPE) worldwide and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well. To understand the driving force behind the emergence of such plasmids in the UAE, the relationship between IncX3 plasmids encountered locally and globally was investigated.

Methods: CPE strains isolated in the UAE during 2009-2014 were screened by X3 PCR-based replicon typing.

Plasmid-Mediated Colistin Resistance Gene mcr-1 in an Escherichia coli ST10 Bloodstream Isolate in the Sultanate of Oman.

Aims: To identify plasmid-mediated colistin resistance in clinical Enterobacteriaceae isolates in Oman, where this resistance mechanism has not been encountered yet.

Materials/methods: Twenty-two colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae clinical isolates collected between July 2014 and June 2016 in a tertiary care hospital in Muscat were screened by PCR for the mcr-1 and mcr-2 genes. The strain identified as mcr-1 positive was genotyped and its antibiotic susceptibility was established.

Characterization of NDM-7 Carbapenemase-Producing Escherichia coli Isolates in the Arabian Peninsula.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to characterize the New Delhi metallo-beta lactamase (NDM)-7-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolated in the Arabian Peninsula.

Methods: Enterobacteriaceae identified to carry bla in a collection of 157 NDM-producing isolates from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were investigated for their antibiotic and disinfectant susceptibility, and resistance gene content. The virulence profile, phylogenetic and sequence types of the isolates were also determined.

High incidence of New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

The purpose of this study was to identify carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a tertiary care hospital in Sharjah Emirate, to identify the plasmids carrying the carbapenemase genes and to reveal clonal relationships among the isolates. Two hundred and two clinically relevant isolates collected between September 2011 and October 2012 at Al-Qassimi hospital, Sharjah, were investigated for meropenem resistance. Strains with decreased susceptibility were further tested with the modified Hodge test, by EDTA and phenylboronic acid synergy and by E-test.