Tracking Clonal and Plasmid Transmission in Colistin and Carbapenem Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae.

A recent preprint abstract discusses the challenges of tracking the transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes in colistin- and carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. The study used short and long read sequencing technologies to track both clonal and plasmid transmission. The researchers observed three clonal transmissions, all containing IncL plasmids and blaNDM-1, although not co-located on the same plasmid. They also found that the spread of blaNDM-1 was not as simple as initially thought, as it was found in the context of five different plasmids. This research highlights the importance of investigating plasmid-mediated transmission for effective containment of outbreaks. [Extracted from the article]