Italy has experienced one of the harshest and earliest COVID-19 epidemics, with the number of patients infected that followed, from the end of February up to the end of March, an exponential trend [1]. Between the 6 March and the 2 May, 394 patients were confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the University Hospital of Rome Policlinico Umberto I (PUI) [2].
Objectives: Genomic characterization of the internationally spread sequence type (ST) 16 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. Methods: The complete genomes of three carbapenem producing ST16 K. pneumoniae from Italian patients were analysed by single-nucleotide polymorphism-based phylogeny, core genome multilocus sequence typing, resistance, plasmid, and virulence content and compared with ten genomes of ST16 strains isolated in other countries. Plasmids carrying bla NDM-1 or bla OXA-232 carbapenemase genes were assembled and sequences were analysed.
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