Emergence of CTX-M beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Portugal: report of an Escherichia coli isolate harbouring blaCTX-M-14.

CTX-M beta-lactamases have been reported worldwide since their first description in the early 1990s, and are now endemic in some countries. This report describes an isolate of Escherichia coli producing CTX-M-14 that was recovered from the faecal sample of a healthy subject in Portugal without recent hospital or antibiotic exposure. The presence of ISEcp1, 42 nucleotides upstream of bla(CTX-M-14), and its association with a 100-kb conjugative plasmid, might result in wider dissemination of this enzyme in community and hospital environments in Portugal.