Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Guanay Cormorants on Is. Pescadores, Peru

Five carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates were obtained from 33 adult Guanay Cormorants from Isla Pescadores, Lima, Peru. Four isolates had a similar antibiotic susceptibility profile and their carbapenem resistance was attributed to mutations in OprD porin; whilst the last isolate carried both bla_VIM (encoded within a Class 1 integron) and bla_IMP. Moreover, the VIM/IMP co-producer belongs to ST111, considered as a high-risk clone. The other isolates could not be identified by MLST since amplification of mutL, aroE, and acsA could not be achieved. The exoA and exoT genes were present in all isolates, while the VIM/IMP isolate also carried exoS and exoY but neither exoU nor algD. BOX-PCR showed that the VIM/IMP isolate was not clonally related to the other four. These findings highlight the importance of surveillance and characterisation of carbapenem-resistant bacteria from environmental sources in Peru.