Abstract
Background We investigated the integron types and their relation with antibiotic resistance among A. baumannii isolates collected from intensive care unit patients, Babol, north of Iran. Methods In this cross-sectional study, a total of 73 bronchoalveolar lavage samples were obtained from patients in ICU. Susceptibility testing was performed by disk diffusion method. Types of integrons were identified by an integrase gene PCR. Results In total, 47.9% A. baumannii isolates were recovered from the BAL samples. All isolates were resistant to ceftazidime. 91.4% and 58.3% of isolates were MDR and XDR, respectively. The rate of colistin resistance with the E-test was 5.7%. Molecular analysis of class I, II, and III integrons showed that 25.7%, 88.6%, and 28.6% of the isolates carried the intI, intII, and intIII genes, respectively. Discussion Our results show that different classes of integrons are commonly spread among A. baumannii strains and these genomic segments can play an important role in the acquisition of MDR and XDR phenotypes. So monitoring drug resistance in A. baumannii isolates with the use of int gene PCR is very important to plan specific infection control measures to prevent the spread of MDR-AB and XDR-AB in Iran's hospitals.
Highlights
Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) is an important opportunistic pathogen responsible for severe hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) [1]
In the ICU, the mortality rate associated with A. baumannii is 54%
The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of type I, II, and III integrons in A. baumannii isolates recovered from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples obtained from hospitalized patients in ICU ward, Babol, north of Iran [11]
Summary
Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) is an important opportunistic pathogen responsible for severe hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) [1]. MDR-AB infections especially pneumonia and bacteremia show a high mortality rate (30% to 75%) and require prolonged hospital stays in intensive care units (ICUs) [2]. We investigated the integron types and their relation with antibiotic resistance among A. baumannii isolates collected from intensive care unit patients, Babol, north of Iran. Our results show that different classes of integrons are commonly spread among A. baumannii strains and these genomic segments can play an important role in the acquisition of MDR and XDR phenotypes. Monitoring drug resistance in A. baumannii isolates with the use of int gene PCR is very important to plan specific infection control measures to prevent the spread of MDR-AB and XDR-AB in Iran’s hospitals
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