Prevalence of the bla SHV Gene in Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolates Obtained from Hospital and Community Infections and from the Microbiota of Healthy Individuals in Recife, Brazil

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the bla SHV gene in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from hospital and community infections and from the normal microbiota of healthy individuals in Recife, PE, Brazil. Fifty-two K. pneumoniae isolates were analyzed regarding the presence of the bla SHV gene, using PCR, and eight isolates were analyzed by DNA sequencing. This gene was detected in 16 isolates from hospital infections, four from community infections, and nine from the normal microbiota. This was the first study to find the bla SHV gene in K. pneumoniae isolates from the normal microbiota. Through DNA sequencing of eight K. pneumoniae isolates from hospital and community infections, with a resistance phenotype indicative of extended-spectrum β-lactamase production, a new SHV variant named SHV-122 was found. We also detected the presence of bla SHV₋₁, bla SHV₋₁₁, bla SHV₋₂₈, and bla SHV₋₁₀₈. The results show that in Recife, Brazil, K. pneumoniae isolates that presented resistance to oxyimino-β-lactams had high prevalence and diversity of the bla SHV gene. We also conclude that there was a high presence of the bla SHV gene among isolates from the normal microbiota of healthy individuals.