Molecular Investigation of Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter spp. from Hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Emergence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp., especially Acinetobacter baumannii, in hospitals has been increasingly detected worldwide. In the present study, we analyzed carbapenem-resistant isolates (70 A. baumannii and one Acinetobacter pittii) collected in a period of 4 years (February 2008 to January 2012) in one diagnostic laboratory in Germany. All isolates were carbapenemase positive with OXA-23 as by far the most common enzyme (n = 66, 93%). Carbapenemases OXA-24-like and OXA-58 were not present in the isolates, but genes blaGIM-1and ISAba1+blaOXA-80/82were found to be the cause of carbapenem resistance in one and four isolates, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction typing revealed that the majority of A. baumannii isolates could be assigned to the very successful international clone 2. ApaI-macrorestriction and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) indicated clonal transmission of resistant strains (eight different PFGE types) within several hospitals. By multilocus sequence typing, the isolates were to be assigned to ST195 (n = 44), ST236 (n = 12), ST208 (n = 4), ST437 (n = 3), ST231 (n = 3), ST448 (n = 2), ST556 (n = 1), and ST945 (n = 1). The wide spread of carbapenem-resistant clones of A. baumannii is facilitated by international travelling and needs continuous surveillance in hospitals and diagnostic laboratories.
1 Division of Microbiology , Medizinisches Versorgungszentrum Dr. Stein, Mönchengladbach, Germany .
Heime
H
Rieber
1 Division of Microbiology , Medizinisches Versorgungszentrum Dr. Stein, Mönchengladbach, Germany .
Andre
A
Frontzek
2 Robert Koch Institute , Nosocomial Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance, Wernigerode, Germany .
Yvonne
Y
Pfeifer
D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D040981:Acinetobacter baumannii / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015780:Carbapenems / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002999:Clone Cells; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D015870:Gene Expression; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D014195:Travel; D018440:beta-Lactam Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015780:Carbapenems; D001618:beta-Lactamases; C063912:carbapenemase
Acinetobacter spp.; carbapenemase; clonal transmission; multidrug resistant; nosocomial