Carbapenem resistance is a major and an on-going public health problem globally. It occurs mainly among Gram-negative pathogens such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, and may be intrinsic or mediated by transferable carbapenemase-encoding genes. This type of resistance genes are already widespread in certain parts of the world, particularly Europe, Asia and South America, while the situation in other places such as sub-Saharan Africa is not well documented. In this paper, we provide an in-depth review of carbapenem resistance providing up-to-date information on the subject.
Keywords: Gram negative bacilli; antibiotic resistance; carbapenemases; carbapenems.