a Department of Medical Microbiology and b Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba; Departments of c Clinical Microbiology and d Medicine, Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Abstract |
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Introduction |
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In Canada, rates of resistance to cefaclor (MIC 32 mg/L) among H. influenzae have increased from <3.2% in 19913 to
12% in 19971998.4,5 The prevalence of ß-lactamase production in the same isolates has remained relatively constant (24.031.3%) over the same period. Given the premiss that cefaclor is a substrate for TEM-1, albeit a significantly less ideal substrate than ampicillin,7 we attempted to determine if increasing cefaclor resistance may be the result of a change in ß-lactamase profile. To do this we identified ß-lactamase DNA sequences by PCR in 324 recent clinical isolates of H. influenzae collected from across Canada in 199798.5 The last similar study in Canada was conducted using isolates collected during 19913 and reported that 93.0% (146/157) of ß-lactamase-positive H. influenzae possessed a TEM ß-lactamase with the remaining 11 isolates (7%) having the ROB-1 ß-lactamase. As a follow-up to results found in the initial study, an additional 71 ß-lactamase-positive H. influenzae6 from the USA, with variable susceptibilities to cefaclor, were also tested for the presence of TEM and ROB-1 genes.
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Materials and methods |
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A Canadian lower respiratory tract surveillance study conducted between September 1997 and November 1998 identified 324 (24.0%) unique clinical isolates of ß-lactamase-positive H. influenzae.5 Isolates had been identified previously as H. influenzae by standard methods and their antibiotic susceptibilities had been determined.5 A second collection of 20 cefaclor-susceptible (MIC 8 mg/L), 26 cefaclor-intermediate (MIC 16 mg/L) and 25 cefaclorresistant (MIC
32 mg/L) ß-lactamase-positive strains of H. influenzae was obtained from authors of a recent USA national surveillance study for testing.6 ß-Lactamase production was confirmed in each isolate using nitrocefin-based disc testing (Cefinase; BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, MD, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions.
ß-Lactamase identification by PCR
TEM and ROB-1 ß-lactamase sequences were identified in all isolates of H. influenzae by PCR amplification.3 TEM-specific primers were chosen from the published sequence of pBR322.8 The primers 5'-TGGGTGCACGAGTGGGTTAC-3' and 5'-TTATCCGCCTCCATCCAGTC-3' amplified a TEM internal sequence 525 bp in length. Thermocycling conditions for the TEM primer pair were 94°C for 5 min, 30 cycles of 94°C for 2 min, 57°C for 1 min and 72°C for 2 min, followed by a final elongation step of 10 min at 72°C. Digestion of the 525 bp amplicon with DraI (BoehringerMannheim, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) into 97 and 428 bp fragments confirmed amplicon identity. ROB-1-specific primers and cycling conditions were identical to those previously described by Scriver and colleagues.3 ROB-1 amplicon identity was also confirmed with DraI digestion as previously described.3
DNA template was obtained for PCR by heating a suspension of bacteria to 94°C for 5 min.3 Each 50 µL PCR reaction contained 15 mM Mg2+, 1.25 mM total dNTPs, 25 pmol of each sense and antisense primers, 2.5 units of Taq DNA polymerase (Pharmacia, Baie d'Urfe, Quebec, Canada) and double-distilled sterile water in addition to DNA template. H. influenzae ATCC 49247 was used as a negative control organism for both TEM and ROB-1 PCR assays. H. influenzae clinical isolates 103 and 546 were used as TEM-positive and ROB-1-positive control organisms, respectively.3
Statistical analysis
Statistical analyses used the nQuery advisor program (Statistical Solutions, San Francisco, USA) and assumed an eventual one-sample 2 test (normal approximation). TEM- and ROB-1-positive isolates of H. influenzae were assumed to be equally susceptible to each antibiotic tested. P values of <0.05 were considered significant.
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Results |
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Discussion |
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The aforementioned 1991 Canadian surveillance study also reported the absence of a correlation between antibiotic susceptibilities, including cefaclor, and the presence of TEM or ROB-1 ß-lactamases.3 Of the 479 ß-lactamase-positive isolates tested, 96.8% were susceptible to cefaclor.3 In contrast, in the present study, which was conducted with 199798 ß-lactamase-positive H. influenzae isolates also collected from across Canada, 66.7% (26/39) of cefaclor-resistant isolates had ROB-1 and 33.3% (13/39) had TEM. For the other four ROB-1-positive isolates cefaclor MICs were also higher (16 mg/L). A similar trend was observed among the 71 isolates6 tested from the USA with all cefaclor-susceptible and -intermediate isolates being TEM-positive and 68.0% (17/25) of the cefaclor-resistant isolates being ROB-1-positive.
A recent Canadian antibiotic surveillance study found that 12.0% of H. influenzae isolates were resistant to cefaclor.5 Results presented in this study have demonstrated that increasing cefaclor resistance in Canada appears not to be the result of changing ß-lactamase profiles among clinical isolates of H. influenzae. Therefore, consideration must be given to mutation of TEM and ROB-1 ß-lactamases as the most probable reason underlying increases in cefaclor resistance. As previously demonstrated in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, one to four amino acid substitutions in the TEM-1 enzyme or its promoter region can result in hyperproduction of ß-lactamase or a change in substrate specificity.1 Similarly, the TEM-1 ß-lactamase in some isolates of H. influenzae may have acquired mutations that make cefaclor a more favourable substrate for this enzyme.1 Compared with the TEM ß-lactamase, ROB-1 is largely unstudied and little is known of its activity against cefaclor. Mutations in the ROB-1 enzyme have not been described previously, but may help to explain the high prevalence of ROB-1 among the cefaclor-resistant isolates of H. influenzae studied here. The data may also suggest that ROB-1 may be a more potent hydrolyser of cefaclor than TEM. It is also possible that another ß-lactamase gene, distinct from TEM and ROB-1, may have been introduced into H. influenzae and co-exists compatibly with TEM or ROB-1 to confer resistance.
In conclusion, the ß-lactamase profile of H. influenzae in Canada appears not to have changed between 1991 and 199798, but ß-lactamase-positive cefaclor-resistant H. influenzae harboured ROB-1 ß-lactamase more commonly (P < 0.001) than TEM. The significant increases in cefaclor resistance appear to have occurred in the absence of a change in ß-lactamase profile, suggesting that mutation and/or changes in the expression of ß-lactamase genes and/or alterations in penicillin-binding proteins may be responsible.
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Acknowledgments |
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Notes |
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References |
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3 . Scriver, S. R., Walmsley, S. L., Kau, C. L., Hoban, D. J., Brunton, J., McGeer, A. et al. (1994). Determination of antimicrobial susceptibilities of Canadian isolates of Haemophilus influenzae and characterization of their ß-lactamases. Canadian Haemophilus Study Group. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 38, 167880.[Abstract]
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8 . Sutcliffe, J. G. (1978). Nucleotide sequence of the ampicillin resistance gene of Escherichia coli plasmid pBR322. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 75, 373741.[Abstract]
9 . National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. (1999). Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing: Ninth Informational Supplement M100-S9. NCCLS, Wayne, PA.
10 . Walmsley, S. L., Fuller, S., Juteau, J. M., Simor, A. E. & Low, D. E. (1990). Prevalence of ROB-1 ß-lactamase among community isolates of Haemophilus influenzae. In Program and Abstracts of the Nintieth Annual Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Anaheim, CA, 1990. Abstract A-74, p. 13. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.
Received 8 October 1999; returned 29 November 1999; revised 22 December 1999; accepted 17 January 2000