Isolation and characterization of carbapenemase producing Gram-negative isolates from environmental Samples

Carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli are causing outbreaks in hospitals worldwide. An important route of transmission into the aquatic environment is the urban water cycle. The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of these bacteria in wastewater from and wastewater treatment plants as well as in surface waters in a German metropolitan area. and to characterize them by genomic comparisons.