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Reports on extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) production by Enterobacteriaceae, and especially in Klebsiella pneumoniae, are few in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, we determined the prevalence of ESBL in K pneumoniae from Riyadh and characterized the predominant β-lactamase gene in these isolates.

A total of 400 K pneumoniae samples were isolated from two hospitals in Riyadh during 2007 and screened for production of ESBL using ESBL-E-strips and combined disk methods. PCR assay was used to detect bla_TEM, bla_SHV, and bla_CTX-M genes.

Phenotypic characterization identified a high ESBL rate of 55% of K pneumoniae isolates. ESBL-producing K pneumoniae were PCR positive for SHV, TEM and CTX-M β-lactamase genes with prevalences 97.3%, 84.1% and 34.1%, respectively. Within the CTX-M family, two groups of enzymes, CTX-M-1 …