Nosocomial Infection by Sequence Type 357 Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Daejeon, Korea

• Published in: Annals of laboratory medicine Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 279 - 282
• Main Authors: Sung, Ji Youn, Koo, Sun Hoe, Cho, Hye Hyun, Kwon, Kye Chul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine 01.07.2013; 대한진단검사의학회
• Subjects: Acinetobacter baumannii - drug effects; Acinetobacter baumannii - genetics; Acinetobacter baumannii - isolation & purification; Acinetobacter baumannii - metabolism; Acinetobacter Infections - diagnosis; Acinetobacter Infections - microbiology; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Brief Communication; Cross Infection - microbiology; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Humans; Imipenem - pharmacology; Infant, Newborn; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction; Republic of Korea; 병리학; Republic of Korea; Carbapenem; Nosocomial infection; Acinetobacter baumannii; Neonatal intensive care unit
• ISSN: 2234-3806; 2234-3814; 2234-3814
• DOI: 10.3343/alm.2013.33.4.279

Acinetobacter baumannii is an important microorganism responsible for a number of nosocomial outbreaks, in particular, in intensive care units (ICUs). We investigated a nosocomial infection caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Korea. A. baumannii isolates were characterized using Etest (AB Biodisk, Sweden), two multiplex PCR assays, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme. PCR and PCR mapping experiments were performed for detecting and characterizing the determinants of antimicrobial resistance. Eight strains isolated from an NICU belonged to European (EU) clone II and revealed only one sequence type (ST), namely, ST357. All the isolates were susceptible to imipenem but were resistant to amikacin, gentamicin, ceftazidime, cefepime, and ciprofloxacin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a nosocomial infection in an NICU in Korea caused by ST357 MDR/carbapenem-susceptible A. baumannii strains. This result demonstrates that nosocomial outbreaks of MDR/carbapenem-susceptible strains as well as MDR/carbapenem-resistant isolates may occur in NICUs.