Cookies allow us to anonymously count visitor number and usage to improve user experience.

Accept cookies?

Antimicrobial resistance

We investigate mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Enterobacter cloacae, a WHO priority pathogen.

E. cloacae is among WHO’s “Critical” group of bacteria that are resistant to 3rd generation cephalosporin. Despite its worldwide spread, E. cloacae remains a poorly studied pathogen.

Heteroresistance is a form of antimicrobial resistance wherein a subpopulation of bacteria become spontaneously, and often transiently, resistant to high doses of an antibiotic that it is otherwise sensitive to.

Heteroresistance in E. cloacae requires the bacterial cell envelope stress response (also called the conjugative pilux expresion – Cpx – pathway) (Choi & Bennison, mBio, 2024)

• Unlike other Enterobacterales pathogens, E. cloacae infections are almost exclusively picked up in hospital settings. E. cloacae are naturally resistant to \(\beta\)-lactams and are increasingly becoming multidrug resistant.

• We found that E. cloacae are heteroresistant to aminoglycosides - a class of commonly used bactericidal antibiotics with broad-spectrum activity (e.g., gentamicin, amikacin, tobramycin).