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Rapid Tracing of Resistance Plasmids in a Nosocomial Outbreak Using Optical DNA Mapping
journal contribution
posted on 2016-03-23, 00:00 authored by Vilhelm Müller, Nahid Karami, Lena K. Nyberg, Christoffer Pichler, Paola C. Torche Pedreschi, Saair Quaderi, Joachim Fritzsche, Tobias Ambjörnsson, Christina Åhrén, Fredrik WesterlundResistance to life-saving antibiotics
increases rapidly worldwide, and multiresistant bacteria have become
a global threat to human health. Presently, the most serious threat
is the increasing spread of Enterobacteriaceae carrying genes coding
for extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) and carbapenemases
on highly mobile plasmids. We here demonstrate how optical DNA maps
of single plasmids can be used as fingerprints to trace plasmids,
for example, during resistance outbreaks. We use the assay to demonstrate
a potential transmission route of an ESBL-carrying plasmid between
bacterial strains/species and between patients, during a polyclonal
outbreak at a neonatal ward at Sahlgrenska University Hospital (Gothenburg,
Sweden). Our results demonstrate that optical DNA mapping is an easy
and rapid method for detecting the spread of plasmids mediating resistance.
With the increasing prevalence of multiresistant bacteria, diagnostic
tools that can aid in solving ongoing routes of transmission, in particular
in hospital settings, will be of paramount importance.