Abstract
BackgroundCarbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has recently been defined by the World Health Organization as a critical pathogen. The aim of this study was to compare clonal diversity and carbapenemase-encoding genes of A. baumannii isolates collected from colonized or infected patients and hospital environment in two intensive care units (ICUs) in Morocco.MethodsThe patient and environmental sampling was carried out in the medical and surgical ICUs of Mohammed V Military teaching hospital from March to August 2015. All A. baumannii isolates recovered from clinical and environmental samples, were identified using routine microbiological techniques and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using disc diffusion method. The carbapenemase-encoding genes were screened for by PCR. Clonal relatedness was analyzed by digestion of the DNA with low frequency restriction enzymes and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and the multi locus sequence typing (MLST) was performed on two selected isolates from two major pulsotypes.ResultsA total of 83 multidrug-resistant A. baumannii isolates were collected: 47 clinical isolates and 36 environmental isolates. All isolates were positive for the blaOXA51-like and blaOXA23-like genes. The coexistence of blaNDM-1/blaOXA-23-like and blaOXA 24-like/blaOXA-23-like were detected in 27 (32.5%) and 2 (2.4%) of A. baumannii isolates, respectively. The environmental samples and the fecally-colonized patients were significantly identified (p < 0.05) as the most common sites of isolation of NDM-1-harboring isolates. PFGE grouped all isolates into 9 distinct clusters with two major groups (0007 and 0008) containing up to 59% of the isolates. The pulsotype 0008 corresponds to sequence type (ST) 195 while pulsotype 0007 corresponds to ST 1089.The genetic similarity between the clinical and environmental isolates was observed in 80/83 = 96.4% of all isolates, belonging to 7 pulsotypes.ConclusionThis study shows that the clonal spread of environmental A. baumannii isolates is related to that of clinical isolates recovered from colonized or infected patients, being both associated with a high prevalence of the blaOXA23-like and blaNDM-1genes. These findings emphasize the need for prioritizing the bio-cleaning of the hospital environment to control and prevent the dissemination of A. baumannii clonal lineages.
Highlights
Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has recently been defined by the World Health Organization as a critical pathogen
This study shows that the clonal spread of environmental A. baumannii isolates is related to that of clinical isolates recovered from colonized or infected patients, being both associated with a high prevalence of the blaOXA23-like and blaNDM-1genes
These findings emphasize the need for prioritizing the bio-cleaning of the hospital environment to control and prevent the dissemination of A. baumannii clonal lineages
Summary
Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has recently been defined by the World Health Organization as a critical pathogen. Risk factors for Acinetobacter colonization and infection are linked to the presence of underlying disease, long-term hospitalization, ICU stay, administration of broad spectrum antibiotics and invasive procedures such as mechanical ventilation or catheters [1, 4]. This bacterium displays an outstanding ability to survive in the environment, with some studies reporting up to 48% of environmental samples being contaminated with Acinetobacter [5, 6]. Environmental sites most likely to be contaminated include bed sheets, bed railings, touch pads of ventilator equipment, trolleys, surfaces of respiratory monitors as well as the hands and uniforms of healthcare workers [5,6,7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
