Molecular Epidemiology of a Cluster of Cases Due to Klebsiella pneumoniae Producing SHV-5 Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase in the Premature Intensive Care Unit of a Hungarian Hospital

Fifteen nosocomial cases of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae occurred among 132 neonates in a premature intensive care unit in Hungary in June through November 1998. Fourteen strains were indistinguishable by molecular biological typing and harbored the same single conjugative extended-spectrum β-lactamase-encoding plasmid that was spontaneously found in a Serratia marcescens strain in the same patient.