Occurrence and transferability of beta-lactam resistance in Enterobacteriaceae isolated in Children's University Hospital in Bratislava.

Occurrence and transferability of beta-lactam resistance in 30 multi-resistant Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., Pantoea agglomerans, Citrobacter freundii and Serratia marcescens strains isolated from children between 0 and 3 years of age is presented.

[Occurrence and mechanisms of resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics in clinically important species of Enterobacter].

Extended-spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics have found great medical importance, but their wide use in clinical practice leads to increasing resistance to them. The more frequent occurrence of infections caused by Bush group 1 beta-lactamase producing organisms, including species of the genus Enterobacter, is a serious problem in this field. Resistance to beta-lactams in this important nosocomial pathogens can be due to 1) reduction in outer membrane permeability to antibiotics caused by alterations in outer membrane lipopolysacharides or proteins (porins); 2) production of beta-lactamases, which inactivate beta-lactams and can also lead to resistance by non-hydrolytic mechanism called trapping.

Spectrum and transferability of beta-lactam resistance in hospital strains of Enterobacter isolated in Bratislava and Innsbruck.

The transferability and expression of beta-lactam resistance were compared in multiresistant clinical isolates of Enterobacter spp. collected from different hospitals in Bratislava, Slovakia (n = 15) and Innsbruck, Austria (n = 19) during 1996-1997. The strains from Bratislava were resistant to ampicillin, cefoxitin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime and ceftriaxone.