Acinetobacter baylyi as a pathogen for opportunistic infection.
There are no previous reports of human infection due to Acinetobacter baylyi. In this study, we report on six patients with bacteremia due to A. baylyi, based on analysis of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer and the 16S rRNA gene. All six patients had multiple underlying diseases. The infection was nosocomially acquired in five patients. The six clinical isolates had similar ribopatterns, suggesting a clonal relationship. Compared to the reference strain, the clinical isolates were more resistant to antimicrobial agents, especially beta-lactam antibiotics. In three of the isolates, they may have undetermined plasmid mediated class C type beta-lactamases because of the positive results in a double-disk synergy test using 3-aminophenylboronic acid. Two of the clinical isolates retained a level of natural transformability similar to that of the reference strain. None of the patients died, although only three of them received appropriate antimicrobial therapy. This study demonstrates that A. baylyi is a potential human pathogen that can cause nosocomial infection in immunocompromised patients.
Chen
Te-Li
TL
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Siu
Leung-Kei
LK
Lee
Yi-Tzu
YT
Chen
Chien-Pei
CP
Huang
Li-Yueh
LY
Wu
Roy Chen-Chih
RC
Cho
Wen-Long
WL
Fung
Chang-Phone
CP
D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000235:genetics; D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny