Microbial Drug Resistance (Larchmont, N.Y.) publish this investigation article

September 1^st, 2018

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) infections are an increasing concern in intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide. The combination of carbapenemases and 16S rRNA-methyltransferases (16S-RMTases) further reduces the therapeutic options. OXA-carbapenemase/A. baumannii clone tandems in Latin America have already been described; however, no information exists in this region regarding the occurrence of 16S-RMTases in this microorganism. In addition, the epidemiology of A. baumannii in ICUs and its associated resistance profiles are poorly understood. Our objectives were as follows: to study the clonal relationship and antibiotic resistance profiles of clinical and digestive colonizing A. baumannii isolates in an ICU, to characterize the circulating carbapenemases, and to detect 16S-RMTases. Patients admitted between August 2010 and July 2011 with a clinically predicted hospital stay > 48 hr were included. Pharyngeal and rectal swabs were obtained during the first fortnight after hospitalization. Resistance profiles were determined with MicroScan® and VITEK2 system. Carbapenemases and 16S-RMTases were identified by PCR and sequencing, and clonality was assessed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing. Sixty-nine patients were studied and 63 were diagnosed with bacterial infections. Among these, 29 were CRAB isolates; 49 A. baumannii were isolated as digestive colonizers. These 78 isolates were clustered in 7 pulsetypes, mostly belonging to ST79. The only carbapenemase genes detected were blaOXA-51 (n = 78), blaOXA-23 (n = 62), and blaOXA-58 (n = 3). Interestingly, two clinical isolates harbored the rmtC 16S-RMTase gene. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of the presence of rmtC in A. baumannii

Bado I., Papa-Ezdra R., Delgado-Blas JF., Gaudio M., Gutierrez C., Cordeiro NF., Garcia-Fulgueiras V., Pirez LA., Seija V., Medina JC., Rieppi G., Gonzalez-Zorn B. and Vignoli R.

Molecular Characterization of Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in the Intensive Care Unit of Uruguays University Hospital Identifies the First rmtC Gene in the Species

Molecular Characterization of Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in the Intensive Care Unit of Uruguays University Hospital Identifies the First rmtC Gene in the Species

	Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Higiene. Universidad de la República.
	Servicio de Zoonosis de Transmisión Alimentaria y Resistencia a Antimicrobianos (ZTA). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas. Universidad de la República.