To the Editor: Infections caused by multiresistant gram-negative organisms are difficult to treat. Carbapenems are often used as a last resort but even these are under threat with the emergence of acquired metallo-b-lactamases worldwide, including Australia,1,2 India, China and Europe.
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- 1 Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Unit, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT.
- 2 SA Pathology (Women’s and Children’s Hospital), Adelaide, SA.
Correspondence: geethanie.fernando@act.gov.au
- 1. Queenan AM, Bush K. Carbapenemases: the versatile β-lactamases. Clin Microbiol Rev 2007; 20: 440-458.
- 2. Peleg AYC, Franklin C, Bell JM, Spelman DW. Dissemination of the metallo-β-lactamase gene blaIMP-4 among gram-negative pathogens in a clinical setting in Australia. Clin Infect Dis 2005; 41: 1549-1556.
- 3. Yong D, Toleman MA, Giske CG, et al. Characterization of a new metallo-β-lactamase gene, blaNDM-1, and a novel erythromycin esterase gene carried on a unique genetic structure in Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 14 from India. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2009; 53: 5046-5054.
- 4. Health Protection Agency. National resistance alert: carbapanemases in Enterobacteriaceae. UK: Health Protection Report 2009; 3(4): 3-4. http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpr/archives/2009/hpr0409.pdf (accessed May 2010).
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