Prevalence of Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae （CRKP） and the Distribution of Class 1 Integron in Their Strains Isolated from a Hospital in Central China

Objective The aim of our study is to investigate the prevalence of Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae （CRKP） and the genetic characteristics of the class 1 integron in CRKP on multi-drug resistance. Methods Clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were collected from multiple departments of a hospital in central China. CRKP strains were identified among the isolates, and antibiotics susceptibility of CRKP strains was analyzed. The polymerase chain reaction （PCR） was adopted to amplify the class 1 integron variable area. The integron genetic structure was analyzed with enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing technology. The relation between class 1 integron and drug resistance was analyzed statistically. Results Totally 955 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae were isolated from varied sites of the hospital, and 117（12.3%） of them were identified as CRKP, with a separation rate of 8.9% （26/292） in 2013, 11.3% （38/336） in 2014 and 16.2% （53/327） in 2015, which shows an increasing trend by year. 44.4% （52/117） of CRKP strains were separated from specimen of ICU, and 61.5% （72/117） were from sputum. Over 95% CRKP strains were resistant to ampicillin/sulbactam, aztreonam, imipenem, meropenem Ceftazidme,Cefotaxime,Cefepime,and Piperacillin, while relatively low resistant rates were found in Tigecycline （12.8%） and colistin （35.9%）. The class 1 integron was detected in 77.8% （91/117） of CRKP strains. Class 1 integron of CRKP was significantly correlated with the antibiotic resistance to the tobramycin, gentamicin and amikacin （all P〈0.01）. The gene cassette analysis of variable area of class 1 integron showed that aadA2 accounts for 64.8% （59/91）, aacA4-catB8-aadA1 23.1% （21/91）, and aadA2-dfrA25 12.1% （11/91）. Conclusions CRKP has an increasing trend in a clinical setting in China, and most of them were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Class 1 integron in CRKP has strong ability to capture the genes resistant to aminoglycosides antibiotics from environment, with the aadA2 gene as the most popular one.