Complexity of β-lactamases among clinical Aeromonas isolates and its clinical implications

Po-Lin Chen, Wen-Chien Ko, Chi-Jung Wu


Received: August 1, 2012    Revised: August 8, 2012    Accepted: October 1, 2012   

• Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan
• Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, College of Medicine and Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan
• National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Tainan, Taiwan
• Corresponding author. National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Number 367, Sheng Li Road, 704 Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.

Aeromonas species, aquatic Gram-negative bacilli, distributed globally and ubiquitously in the natural environment, may be implicated in a variety of human diseases. They can produce various β-lactamases which confer resistance to a broad spectrum of β-lactams, and therefore in vitro susceptibility testing must be used to guide antimicrobial therapy. However, conventional in vitro susceptibility tests may sometimes fail to detect these β-lactamases, and hence raise a therapeutic challenge. In this review article, two chromosomally mediated β-lactamases (i.e., AmpC β-lactamases and metallo-β-lactamases) and acquired extended-spectrum β-lactamases in aeromonads are reviewed, and the clinical implications of the complexity of β-lactamases are discussed.

 Aeromonas, AmpC, Antimicrobial therapy, β-lactamases, Extended-spectrum β-lactamase, Metallo-β-lactamase