{"id":40175,"date":"2025-11-27T16:21:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T11:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/?p=40175"},"modified":"2025-11-28T08:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T03:36:07","slug":"diabetic-foot-ulcer-infections-carbapenemase-producing-multidrug-resistant-organisms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/non-communicable-diseases\/diabetic-foot-ulcer-infections-carbapenemase-producing-multidrug-resistant-organisms\/","title":{"rendered":"Diabetic Foot Ulcer Infections &#8211; Carbapenemase Producing Multidrug Resistant Organisms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) represent <strong>one of the most severe and debilitating complications of diabetes, frequently necessitating non-traumatic lower-limb amputations.<\/strong> The clinical challenge of managing DFUs has been profoundly aggravated by the <strong>rising prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Among the most alarming of these MDR pathogens are the carbapenemase and extended-spectrum \u03b2-lactamases (ESBLs) producing Gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae and Carbapenem-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter bau mannii. <strong>The Carbapenemase Producing Organisms (CPOs) produce enzymes that dismantle carbapenem antibiotics, <\/strong>drugs often considered a last line of defence for severe Gram-negative infections, making these infections exceptionally difficult to treat and leading to <strong>poor clinical outcomes, including persistent infections, prolonged hospital stays, and higher amputation rates.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This retrospective, observational study analyzed 200 clinical isolates collected from DFU patients. All included patients had ulcers classified as Wagner-Meggitt grade 2 or higher. The majority of patients were male (60%), with a mean age of 63.5 years, and a high proportion (83.2%) demonstrated poor glycemic control (HbA1c &gt; 7%).<\/p>\n<p>Microbiological analysis involved phenotypic assays, including the Modified Hodge Test (MHT) and the Carba NP test, coupled with molecular techniques such as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to specifically detect carbapenemase-encoding genes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The study confirmed a high prevalence of carbapenemase production, with 51.7% of the analyzed isolates identified as CPOs.<\/strong> The main pathogens producing carbapenemases included <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae<\/em>, <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/em>, <em>Acinetobacter baumannii<\/em>, and <em>Escherichia coli<\/em>. Molecular analysis revealed that the most common resistance genes detected were <em>blaKPC<\/em> (27.6%) and <em>blaNDM<\/em> (24.1%). Carbapenemase-producing isolates demonstrated high resistance to \u03b2-lactam antibiotics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MDR infections were significantly associated with several adverse clinical markers and outcomes.<\/strong> Patients with MDR infections were strongly linked to <strong>pyrexia<\/strong> (<em>p<\/em>=0.017) and a <strong>history of recent antibiotic use <\/strong>(<em>p<\/em>=0.003). Furthermore, MDR cases were significantly more often polymicrobial (82% vs. 50.7%, <em>p<\/em>&lt;0.001) and presented with <strong>more severe ulcers<\/strong> (Wagner grade &gt;II, <em>p<\/em>=0.002).<\/p>\n<p>The most concerning finding was the strong association between MDR infections and the need for amputation. <strong>The rates for both minor amputations (76% vs. 6%) and major amputations (38% vs. 4.7%) were markedly higher in patients with MDR infections<\/strong> compared to those with non-MDR infections (<em>p<\/em>&lt;0.001 for both).<\/p>\n<p>These results underscore the serious and increasing burden of MDR infections, particularly CPOs, in diabetic foot ulcers. To improve clinical outcomes, there is an <strong>immediate requirement for enhanced microbiological surveillance and the implementation of robust antimicrobial stewardship programs.<\/strong> Given the high level of resistance to carbapenems, the authors emphasize the <strong>need to explore novel therapeutic strategies, such as combination therapies, antimicrobial peptides, and bacteriophage-based treatments, to effectively combat these superbugs.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reference Source<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong>Saleem, M.; Moursi, S.A.; Altamimi, T.N.A.; Alharbi, M.S.; Alaskar, A.M.; Hammam, S.A.H.; Rakha, E.; Syed Muhammad, O.I.; Almalaq, H.A.; Alshammari, M.N., et al. Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Carbapenemase-Producing Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Diabetic Foot Ulcer Infections. <em>Diagnostics<\/em> 2025, 15, 141. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diagnostics15020141\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diagnostics15020141<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) represent one of the most severe and debilitating complications of diabetes, frequently necessitating non-traumatic lower-limb amputations. The clinical challenge of managing DFUs has been profoundly aggravated by the rising prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. Among the most alarming of these MDR pathogens are the carbapenemase and extended-spectrum \u03b2-lactamases (ESBLs) producing Gram-negative &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-communicable-diseases"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40177,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40175\/revisions\/40177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menamedicalresearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}