Genomic Characterization of Two KPC-Producing Klebsiella Isolates Collected in 1997 in New York City

Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing Enterobacteriaceae have now become a global public health threat. However, the origin of this pandemic and the characterization of pre-2003 bla(KPC)-harboring plasmids remain unknown. Here we used next-generation sequencing to characterize two KPC-2producing K. pneumoniae and K. michiganensis isolates collected from a New York City hospital in 1997. Although identified in two different Klebsiella species, the bla(KPC)-(2) gene was harbored by Tn4401b transposons on two highly similar IncN plasmids.