Investigation of the epidemiology of hospital isolates of Acinetobacter anitratus by two molecular methods.
Two hundred and two isolates of Acinetobacter anitratus from 126 patients in 36 wards belonging to 11 specialties of a university teaching hospital were compared by ribotyping and restriction enzyme digest analysis (REA) of total DNA. Forty-six groups were defined by both techniques and there was 96 center dot 5% agreement between the methods for the designation of isolates into groups. Only two groups were endemic and circulating in the whole hospital while others were less common. Burns and intensive therapy units had the highest number of isolates and these were mainly of the two endemic groups while renal dialysis and neonatal units had isolates belonging to the less common groups. Of the 32 patients with multiple isolates, 17 were infected or colonized at different sites by two and up to four groups of A. anitratus. Both ribotyping and REA of total DNA are discriminatory methods for typing A. anitratus, however, the latter is a simpler and more rapid method and it can be used in a routine clinical laboratory.
Department of Microbiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
J M
JM
Ling
R
R
Wise
T H
TH
Woo
A F
AF
Cheng
D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D000091402:Prohibitins; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012703:Serotyping
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C000717331:PHB2 protein, human; D000091402:Prohibitins