Pseudomonas aeruginosa antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, resistance mechanisms and international clonal lineages: update from ESGARS-ESCMID/ISARPAE Group.

SCOPE

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a ubiquitous opportunistic pathogen considered one of the paradigms of antimicrobial resistance, is among the main causes of hospital-acquired and chronic infections associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This growing threat results from the extraordinary capacity of P. aeruginosa to develop antimicrobial resistance through chromosomal mutations, the increasing prevalence of transferable resistance determinants (such as the carbapenemases and the extended spectrum β-lactamases), and the global expansion of epidemic lineages. The general objective of this initiative is to provide a comprehensive update of P. aeruginosa resistance mechanisms, especially for the extensively drug-resistant (XDR)/difficult to treat resistance (DTR) international high-risk epidemic lineages, and how the recently approved β-lactams and β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations may affect resistance mechanisms and the definition of susceptibility profiles.

METHODS

To address this challenge, the European Study Group for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (ESGARS) from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) launched the "Improving Surveillance of Antibiotic-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Europe" (ISARPAE) initiative in 2022, supported by the Joint programming initiative on antimicrobial resistance (JPIAMR) network call and included a panel of over 40 researchers from 18 European Countries. Thus, an ESGARS-ISARPAE position paper was designed and the final version agreed after four rounds of revision and discussion by all panel members.

QUESTIONS ADDRESSED IN THE POSITION PAPER

To provide an update on (i) the emerging resistance mechanisms to classical and novel antipseudomonal agents, with a particular focus on β-lactams, (ii) the susceptibility profiles associated with the most relevant β-lactam resistance mechanisms, (iii) the impact of the novel agents and resistance mechanisms on the definitions of resistance profiles and (iv) the globally expanding XDR/DTR high-risk lineages and their association with transferable resistance mechanisms.

IMPLICATION

The evidence presented herein can be used for coordinated epidemiological surveillance and decision-making at the European and global level.