Biochemical tests have been previously developed to identify carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas spp. (Carba NP test) and Acinetobacter spp. (CarbAcineto NP test). We evaluated a modified Carba NP test to detect carbapenemase production in Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species using a single protocol with rapid results and found good reliability and speed.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest public-health challenges worldwide, especially with regard to Gram-negative bacteria (GNB). Carbapenems are the β-lactam antibiotics of choice with the broadest spectrum of activity and, in many cases, are the last-resort treatment for several bacterial infections. Carbapenemase-encoding genes, mainly carried by mobile genetic elements, are the main mechanism of resistance against carbapenems in GNB. These enzymes exhibit a versatile hydrolytic capacity and confer resistance to most β-lactam antibiotics. After being considered a clinical issue, increasing attention is being giving to the dissemination of such resistance mechanisms in the environment and especially through water. Aquatic environments are among the most significant microbial habitats on our planet, known as a favourable medium for antibiotic gene transfer, and they play a crucial role in the huge spread of drug resistance in the environment and the community. In this review, we present current knowledge regarding the spread of carbapenemase-producing isolates in different aquatic environments, which may help the implementation of control and prevention strategies against the spread of such dangerous resistant agents in the environment.

Here, we report the first autochthonous cases of infections caused by bla _NDM-5 New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli strains recovered from urine and blood specimens of three patients from Algeria between January 2012 and February 2013. The three isolates belong to sequence type 2659 and they coexpress bla _CTX-M-15 with the bla _TEM-1 and bla _aadA2 genes.

Seven nonredundant ertapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were collected between May 2014 and 19 January 2015 in the nephrology and hematology units of Batna University Hospital in Algeria. All strains coproduced the bla _OXA-48 , bla _CTX-M-15 , bla _SHV-1 , and bla _TEM-1D genes. Six of these isolates belonged to the pandemic clone sequence type 101 (ST101). The bla _OXA-48 gene was located on a conjugative IncL/M-type plasmid. This is the first known outbreak of OXA-48-producing K. pneumoniae isolates involving an ST101 clone in Batna University Hospital.