OXA-type beta-lactamases among extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in a university hospital in southern Taiwan.

Background And Purpose: Data on the epidemiology of OXA-type extended-spectrum beta (beta)-lactamases (ESBLs) are limited due to difficulty of identification by routine microbiology laboratories. We determined the prevalence rate of OXA-type beta-lactamases among extended-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC)-non-susceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates at a university hospital in southern Taiwan.

Methods: A total of 1,294 ESC-non-susceptible P. aeruginosa isolates collected between 1989 and 1996 (n = 42) and between December 1999 and December 2002 (n = 1,252) were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction assays with primers specific for bla(OXA) genes and isoelectric focusing.

Results: Forty five isolates (3.5%) were found to produce an OXA-type beta-lactamase. Overall, 2 OXA-type ESBLs, OXA-14 (n = 2) and OXA-17 (n = 35), were detected in 37 (2.9%) isolates, and the OXA-10-type narrow-spectrum beta-lactamase was found in 8 (0.6%) isolates. OXA-10 and the 2 OXA-type ESBLs were detected in 6 (14.3%) and 4 (9.5%) of 42 ESC-non-susceptible isolates collected between 1989 and 1996. OXA-10 and OXA-17 were detected in 2 (0.2%) and 33 (2.6%) of 1,252 ESC-non-susceptible isolates collected between December 1999 and December 2002.

Conclusions: These data indicate that OXA-17 was the most common OXA-type ESBL and that OXA-type beta-lactamases have decreased in ESC-non-susceptible P. aeruginosa at this hospital in recent years. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed clonal diversity among the OXA-producing isolates.