A total of 14 phenotypically similar clinical isolates of
Klebsiella pneumoniae
, resistant to multiple drugs including cefotaxime and ceftazidime, were isolated from blood of neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) within a short span of 10 days. Alarmed at the possibility of occurrence of outbreak, a thorough investigation was done. Microbiological sampling of the NICU and labour room (LR) environment yielded 12
K. pneumoniae isolates. The presence of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) in the clinical and environmental strains was detected by double-disk synergy test (DDST), CLSI phenotypic confirmatory disk diffusion test (PCDDT) and E-test ESBL strips. Amp-C screen (disk) test was done to determine Amp-C β-lactamase production. 100% clinical strains, 57% NICU strains and 80% LR strains were ESBL positive. 57% clinical, 43% NICU and 20% LR strains were Amp-C screen positive. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of representative ESBL positive (10 clinical and 5 environmental) strains showed CTX gene and TEM and/or SHV gene in all.
K. pneumoniae showing multiple mechanisms of drug resistance was responsible for the outbreak.