Molecular typing indicates an important role for two international clonal complexes in dissemination of VIM-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates in Hungary

VIM metallo-β-lactamase-producing serotype O11 or O12 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates infecting or colonising 19 patients from seven hospitals were reported in Hungary between 2003 and 2005. In this study we characterised VIM-producing Pseudomonas spp. clinical isolates from two novel locations in Hungary; we identified three new blaVIM carrying integron types and the presence of the blaVIM-2 allele in Hungary. By applying various typing techniques, including multilocus sequence typing, we revealed an important role of two international clonal complexes, CC4 and CC11, in the dissemination of blaVIM-positive P. aeruginosa in hospitals in Hungary. Isolate P12-Q, a representative strain from France of the major European multiresistant P12 clone, displayed ST111 which, according to eBURST analysis, is the presently calculated founder sequence type of CC4. This is in accordance with the wide geographic distribution of the P12 clone. Our data indicate that, although the CC4 clonal complex includes serotype O1 and O6 isolates as well, it also contains the P12 clone. We characterised a P. aeruginosa nosocomial clone with a singleton sequence type (ST313), that may have acquired blaVIM-2 and blaVIM-4 gene cassettes from a yet unidentified local gene pool in Hungary.