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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Aug 1996, 1963-1969, Vol 34, No. 8
V Livrelli, C De Champs, P Di Martino, A Darfeuille-Michaud, C Forestier and B Joly
Intestinal colonization by Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Serratia (KES)
strains is a crucial step in the development of nosocomial infections. We
studied the adhesive properties, antibiotic resistance, and involvement in
colonization or infection of 103 KES clinical isolates: 30 Klebsiella
pneumoniae (29%), 16 Klebsiella oxytoca (15%), 30 Enterobacter aerogenes
(29%), 14 Enterobacter cloacae (14%), and 13 Serratia sp. (13%) isolates.
Half of them were resistant to several antimicrobial agents, including
aminoglycosides and beta-lactam antibiotics. A total of 27 of 30 K.
pneumoniae isolates (90%) adhered to the human cell line Intestine-407
(Int-407), while none of the K. oxytoca or E. aerogenes isolates and only 2
of the E. cloacae isolates adhered. Three adhesive patterns were observed
for K. pneumoniae: an aggregative adhesion in 57% of the isolates, a
diffuse adhesion in only one isolate, and a new pattern, localized
adhesion, in 30% of the isolates. While most of the sensitive strains
adhered with the aggregative phenotype, the localized pattern was
associated with resistant K. pneumoniae isolates producing the CAZ-5
beta-lactamase. Furthermore, 45% of such localized-adhesion isolates were
involved in severe infections. The distributions of type 1 and type 3
fimbriae, enteroaggregative E. coli, and cf29, pap, and afa/Dr
adhesin-encoding genes were determined by using specific DNA probes. No
relationship was found between the adhesive pattern and the production of
specific fimbriae, suggesting that several unrecognized adhesive factors
are involved. Our study indicates that special adhesive properties
associated with resistance to antimicrobial agents could account for the
pathogenicity of certain nosocomial strains.
Copyright © 1996 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Adhesive properties and antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Serratia clinical isolates involved in nosocomial infections
Laboratoire de Bacteriologie, Faculte de Pharmacie, Universite d'Auvergne, France.
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