Abstract
Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging nosocomial pathogen prevalent in hospitals worldwide. In order to understand the molecular epidemiology of multi-drug resistant (MDR) A. baumannii, we investigated the genotypes of A. baumannii isolated from 10 hospitals in Shandong, China, from August 2013 to December 2013, by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Antimicrobial resistance genes were analyzed by PCR and DNA sequencing. By PFGE analysis, we discovered 11 PFGE types in these 10 hospitals. By MLST, we assigned these isolates to 12 sequence types (STs), 10 of which belong to the cloning complex CC92, including the prevalent ST369, ST208, ST195, and ST368. Two new STs, namely ST794 and ST809, were detected only in one hospital. All isolates of the MDR A. baumannii were resistant to carbapenem, except 2 isolates, which did not express the blaOXA-23 carbapenemase gene, indicating blaOXA-23 is the major player for carbapenem resistance. We also discovered armA is likely to be responsible for amikacin resistance, and may play a role in gentamicin and tobramycin resistance. aac(3)-I is another gene responsible for gentamicin and tobramycin resistance. In summary, we discovered that the majority of the isolates in Shandong, China, were the STs belonging to the CC92. Besides, two new STs were detected in one hospital. These new STs should be further investigated for prevention of outbreaks caused by A. baumannii.
Highlights
Acinetobater baumannii has become one of the most important pathogens of nosocomial infection in China (Wang F. et al, 2013; Hu et al, 2014, 2015)
In October 2013, after one patient infected with multi-drug resistant (MDR) A. baumannii was transferred from a secondary hospital to the emergency ward of Hospital-1, Tai’an, Shandong, China, MDR A. baumannii with high homology was constantly detected in the sputum specimens of patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU)
From August 20, 2013 to December 20, 2013, we identified 154 strains of A. baumannii, isolated from clinical cases in 10 public tertiary-care teaching hospitals in Shandong Province, China (Table 1)
Summary
Acinetobater baumannii has become one of the most important pathogens of nosocomial infection in China (Wang F. et al, 2013; Hu et al, 2014, 2015). Epidemiological studies of A. baumannii have been constructed in Shandong, China (Ying C. et al, 2015), but a province-wide survey has not been performed. Patients in Shandong often visit cities other than their home city to seek an alternative therapy. This raises the concern that hospital-to-hospital transfer of patients may speed the spreading of MDR A. baumannii. In October 2013, after one patient infected with MDR A. baumannii was transferred from a secondary hospital to the emergency ward of Hospital-1, Tai’an, Shandong, China, MDR A. baumannii with high homology was constantly detected in the sputum specimens of patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) (unpublished data)
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