BACKGROUNDKlebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing Escherichia (E.) coli has been reported in China since 2008. However, there is no information about the molecular epidemiology of KPC-producing E. coli in China. In this study, we aimed to investigate the sequence type (ST) and characteristics of KPC-producing E. coli isolates in China.

METHODSThree carbapenem-resistant isolates of E. coli (E1, E2, and E3) from one teaching hospital in Hangzhou covering a one year period were analyzed. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by Etest. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were used for epidemiological analysis. The genetic structure around blaKPC, the major plasmid incompatibility typing, and the identification of β-lactamase gene types were performed by PCR and the positive products were subsequently sequenced. Plasmids were analyzed by transformation, restriction, and Southern blotting.

RESULTSPFGE demonstrated that patterns of isolates E1 and E2 were clonally-related and designated as patterns A1 and A2; pattern of isolate E3 was different and designated as pattern B. MLST analysis showed that the three isolates displayed one common sequence type ST131. The identification of bla gene types by PCR and sequencing showed that blaKPC-2, blaCTX-M-14, and blaTEM-1 were detected in all three isolates. All three isolates carried a KPC-2-encoding plasmid of the IncN replicon. Plasmid analysis and hybridization experiments showed that the isolates were found simultaneously to carry two or four plasmids. The blaKPC-2 gene in E1 and E2 was located in a plasmid with size of ca. 50 kb. However, the blaKPC-2 gene in E3 was located in a plasmid with size of ca. 130 kb.

CONCLUSIONSE. coli ST131 with KPC-2 β-lactamase has emerged in China, which enlarges the geographical area where the ST131 KPC-producing E. coli strains have diffused.