Molecular Characterization of Newly Emerged<i>bla</i>_KPC-2-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Singapore

Abstract

In Asia, bla(KPC) detection has been limited to East Asia and not yet seen in Southeast Asia. We report four bla(KPC-2)-containing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from two different hospitals in Singapore. All isolates belonged to strain type 11 (ST11) and were indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). bla(KPC-2) was located on nonconjugative plasmids and flanked by mobile genetic structures composed of a partial Tn4401 transposon and a Tn3-based transposon which previously have been described only in Chinese isolates.