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Aims Carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli has been categorized as a pathogen of critical priority by the World Health Organization as it is highly infectious with high mortality and morbidity rates and widespread transmission potential. Carbapenem resistance is primarily mediated by carbapenemase-encoding genes and, additionally, through intrinsic factors. In India, over the years, carbapenemase-encoding genes have been reported from diverse clinically significant pathogens. The present study identifies E. coli of clinical origin that harbours bla OXA-144. Methods and results The study isolate was obtained from a tertiary referral hospital in northeast India. Carbapenemase production was investigated through culture on chromogenic agar and Rapidec Carba NP test as per manufacturer's instructions. Susceptibility of the isolate was performed by the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method and agar dilution method following CLSI guidelines. PCR targeting carbapenemase-encoding genes was performed, followed by transformation and conjugation experiments. Whole-genome sequencing of the isolate was done through the Illumina sequencing platform and the data were analysed using the Centre for Genomic Epidemiology database. BJD_EC180 is 6 919 180 bp in length and consists of six rRNA operons, 111 tRNA, and 6849 predicted protein-coding sequences. BJD_EC180 belonged to ST2437 and harboured the carbapenemase-encoding gene bla OXA-144 with ISAba1 upstream, along with multiple antibiotic resistance genes conferring clinical resistance towards beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, amphenicols, sulphonamides, tetracyclines, trimethoprim, and rifampin. Conclusions Carbapenem-resistant E. coli harbouring bla OXA-144 associated with insertion sequence pose a serious health threat as their mobilization into carbapenem non-susceptible strains that will contribute to the resistance burden and therefore, needs urgent monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Levonadifloxacin is a novel antibiotic belonging to the benzoquinolizine subclass of fluoroquinolones with potent activity against MRSA and quinolone-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. IV levonadifloxacin and its oral prodrug alalevonadifloxacin have recently been approved in India for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) including diabetic foot infections.Objectives: To investigate the in vitro activity of levonadifloxacin against contemporary clinical isolates collected from multiple tertiary care hospitals across India in the Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiling of Indian Resistotypes (ASPIRE) surveillance study.Methods: A total of 1376 clinical isolates, consisting of staphylococci (n = 677), streptococci (n = 178), Enterobacterales (n = 320), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 140) and Acinetobacter baumannii (n = 61), collected (2016-18) from 16 tertiary hospitals located across 12 states in India, were included in the study. The MICs of levonadifloxacin and comparator antibiotics were determined using the reference agar dilution method and broth microdilution method.Results: Levonadifloxacin exhibited potent activity against MSSA (MIC50/90: 0.5/1 mg/L), MRSA (MIC50/90: 0.5/1 mg/L) and levofloxacin-resistant S. aureus (MIC50/90: 1/1 mg/L) isolates. Similarly, potent activity of levonadifloxacin was also observed against CoNS including MDR isolates (MIC50/90: 1/2 mg/L). Against Streptococcus pneumoniae, levonadifloxacin (MIC50/90: 0.5/0.5 mg/L) showed superior activity compared with levofloxacin (MIC50/90: 1/2 mg/L). Among levofloxacin-susceptible Enterobacterales, 80.6% of isolates were inhibited at ≤2 mg/L levonadifloxacin.Conclusions: Levonadifloxacin displayed potent activity against contemporary MRSA and fluoroquinolone-resistant staphylococcal isolates, thus offering a valuable IV as well as an oral therapeutic option for the treatment of ABSSSIs. Furthermore, levonadifloxacin exhibited a broad-spectrum activity profile as evident from its activity against streptococci and levofloxacin-susceptible Gram-negative isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli STs and associated resistance mechanisms carried by the community in North-East India.Methods: E. coli (108) were isolated from sewage collected from 19 sites across the city of Silchar by plating on MacConkey agar with/without selection (50 mg/L cefotaxime). Species identification was confirmed by MALDI-TOF MS for 82 isolates. Common resistance mechanisms were determined by WGS of pooled E. coli isolates. PFGE combined with specific probes determined the presence of common resistance mechanisms in all isolates. Phylotypes, multilocus STs, core-genome multilocus STs, resistance genes and virulence genes were determined by in silico analysis of 38 genomes.Results and Conclusions: Analysis of isolates collected without selection (n=33) indicated that cefotaxime resistance in E. coli was 42% (14/33) and estimated meropenem resistance at 9%. The remaining 58% (19/33) were additionally susceptible to ampicillin, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin and aminoglycosides. The most common ST among the cefotaxime-resistant E. coli was ST167 (29%), followed by ST410 (17%) and ST648 (10%). E. coli ST131 was absent from the collection. Sixty-three isolates were resistant to cefotaxime and harboured blaCTX-M-15 [54% (34/63)] or blaCMY-42 [46% (29/63)], of which 10% (6/63) harboured both genes. Carbapenem resistance was due to blaNDM-5, found in 10/63 cefotaxime-resistant isolates, and/or blaOXA-181, found in 4/63 isolates. NDM-5 was encoded by IncX3 and/or IncFII plasmids and CMY-42 was mostly encoded by IncI plasmids. NDM-5 appears to have replaced NDM-1 in this region and CMY-42 appears to be in the process of replacing CTX-M-15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt is one of the commonest procedures in neurosurgical practice. A significant problem encountered in shunt procedures is infection, with infection rate ranging from 2 to 27%, often with poor outcome. The objectives of the study were to retrospectively evaluate the infection rate associated with central nervous system (CNS) shunts, assess the frequency of the pathogens as well as their antibiotic sensitivity pattern to aim at suitable prophylaxis. Methods Materials and Methods. Retrospective study conducted in the Microbiology Department, SGPGI, Lucknow from December 2017 to August 2018. A total of 168 CSF samples were received with a suspected shunt infection. Samples were analyzed by wet mount, India ink, gram stain and inoculated on blood agar and MacConkey agar. Identification and AST were done by MALDI- TOF system (VITEK-MS) and Vitek 2.0 automated sensitivity system. Results During the study period, 37/168(22.02%) CSF were positive by culture. Most frequently isolated pathogen was Acinetobacter baumannii 20/37(54.05%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus 06/37 (16.20%), Enterococcus faecalis 04/37(10.81%) coagulase negative staphylococci- CONS 04/37(10.81%), Klebsiella pneumoniae 2/37 (5.40%)and Escherichia coli 1/37(2.70%). 100% of A. baumannii and E. coli strains were found to be XDR and carbapenem-resistant showing susceptibility to minocycline and colistin only. All strains of K.pneumoniae were MDR. 66.7% S.aureus were MRSA and showed 100% resistance to fluoroquinolone. A similar pattern was seen in CONS. 25% of Enterococci were found to be vancomycin resistant. Conclusion Discussion and Conclusion. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern suggests aminoglycosides, colistin and vancomycin to be a better choice of antibiotics either prophylactically/therapeutically, which may result in effective sterilization of the CSF. Infections following VP shunt procedure are secondary to catheter blockage complicating the results of surgery and are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Legionellosis is a form of pneumonia caused by Gram-negative bacilli belonging to the Legionella genus. In India, sporadic cases of legionellosis have been reported, but the incidence of this infection is still believed to be underestimated. We conducted a proactive clinical–environmental surveillance in a tertiary healthcare center to determine the frequency of legionellosis, and to identify the pathogen in the hospital water systems. Methods During February 2015–February 2019, we enrolled 533 cases (310 males, 223 females) with a diagnosis of pneumonia; a respiratory secretion was collected from each patient and tested for L.pneumophila by using a real-time PCR targeting mip gene. To identify Legionella spp. present in hospital water systems, we collected 201 hospital water samples and were analyzed by cultivation in BCYE agar. Legionella speciation and identification of Lp1 was done by real-time PCR assay. Results Among 533 cases, 11(2.1%) [6 male, 5 female] tested positive for L.pneumophila by real-time PCR. Of these, all were community-acquired sporadic cases not associated with a cluster or outbreak. Risk factors including smoking, alcohol use, malignancy, underlying respiratory disease, hypertension were identified in 8 (72.7%) cases. The duration of hospitalization for Legionella patients was 8–24 days; 5/11 (45.5%) patients were admitted to intensive care units. Of 11 patients 8 (72.7%) survived, and 3(27.3%) died. Among the 201 water samples tested, 38 (18.9%) tested positive for L.pneumophila by culture. The presence of Lp1 was detected in 25 (12.4%) water samples. Legionella spp. was recurrently isolated from patient areas, cooling towers, residential areas, and other areas inside the hospital campus. Conclusion The study indicates a low prevalence of legionellosis in this region. Even though Legionella colonization was detected in the hospital water system, no cases of hospital-acquired legionellosis were discovered during the study period. However, considering the risk of nosocomial legionellosis to patients we formulated Legionella control strategies in this hospital. Point-of-use filters were installed to the potable water units from where Legionella was isolated and repeat sampling from these sites were found to be negative for the contagion. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]