Identification of a bla(VIM-1)-Carrying IncA/C(2) Multiresistance Plasmid in an Escherichia coli Isolate Recovered from the German Food Chain

Within the German national monitoring of zoonotic agents, antimicrobial resistance determination also targets carbapenemase-producing (CP) Escherichia coli by selective isolation from food and livestock. In this monitoring in 2019, the CP E. coli 19-AB01133 was recovered from pork shoulder. The isolate was assigned to the phylogenetic group B1 and exhibited the multi-locus sequence-type ST5869. Molecular investigations, including whole genome sequencing, of 19-AB01133 revealed that the isolate carried the resistance genes bla(VIM-1), bla(SHV-5) and bla(CMY-13) on a self-transmissible IncA/C(2) plasmid. The plasmid was closely related to the previously described VIM-1-encoding plasmid S15FP06257_p from E. coli of pork origin in Belgium. Our results indicate an occasional spread of the bla(VIM-1) gene in Enterobacteriaceae of the European pig population. Moreover, the bla(VIM-1) located on an IncA/C(2) plasmid supports the presumption of a new, probably human source of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) entering the livestock and food chain sector.