BOX- Genotyping of Carbapenem Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Clinical Isolates from Diyala/Iraq

Abstract

The aim of study is to determine the typing of Carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii clinical isolates fromsome hospitals in Diyala by the BOX-PCR technique. This study was carried out during the period fromFebruary 2020 to the end of September 2020. Out of 400 specimens, 53 isolates of Acinetobacter baumanniiwere recovered. All isolates were tested toward the different class of clinically important antibiotics (12)by using agar diffusion method. The results of resistance were as following: piperacillin 53%, Ticarcillin/clavulanic acid 75%, cefotaxime 94% and ceftazidime 66%, cefepime 53%, gentamicin 84%, amikacin49%, ciprofloxacin 47%, levofloxacin 38%, Aztreonam 87%, Imipenem and Meropenem 38%. Twenty (20)isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii were found to be resistant to carbapenems. The BOX–PCR methodwas used to detect the relationship among these carbapenem resistant isolates, the fingerprinting patterns ofthe isolates were shown 15 bands on gel electrophoresis, with molecular weight ranging between (100-3000bp) among the 20 carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates. Genetic relationship of differentisolates of Acinetobacter baumannii was done by using BOX-PCR method and Dendogram analysis.The results showed the genetic relationship between Acinetobacter baumannii 4 clones, while 12 isolatescontained different genotyping. In conclusion, the present study showed that the BOX-PCR technique isreproducible, easy, fast and cost effectiveness tool for investigating the genetic diversity of A. baumanniiisolates.