Detection of Carbapenemase Genes in Aquatic Environments in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

This study reveals the presence of different carbapenemase genes (blaKPC, blaNDM, blaGES, and blaOXA48-like genes) detected directly from water samples and clonal dispersion (by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE] and multilocus sequence typing [MLST]) of KPC-2-producing Enterobacteriaceae in two important urban aquatic matrixes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, highlighting the role of aquatic environments as gene pools and the possibility of community spreading.