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Metallo--lactamases hydrolyze most-lactam antibiotics except aztreonam. Therefore, many pathogens that produce these enzymes at high levels are resistant to the majority of-lactam antibiotics, including the carbapenems. The first report of an imported metallo--lactamase described a Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolate obtained from a Japanese patient in 1988 (6). Since then, the occurrence of mobile genetic elements encoding metallo--lactamases has extended beyond P. aeruginosa to include many types of gram-negative organisms distributed throughout the world (5). Areas which have reported these types of isolates include several countries in Asia and Europe; the Americas, including Brazil, Canada, and the United States; and Australia (5). Based on recent reports, there are two major families of imported metallo--lactamases, IMP and VIM, that are carried on mobile gene cassettes inserted into integrons (5 …