Molecular epidemiology and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of nozocomial acinetobacter baumannii isolates in children

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii have been a leading cause of nosocomial infections, causing significant morbidity and mortality. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the types of nosocomial infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii and antibiotic susceptibility pattern, and phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of Acinetobacer Baumannii isolates in our center.Method: Sixty-nine children in whom Acinetobacter baumanii isolated from their clinical specimens were included in the present study. Types of nosocomial infections caused by these isolates were evaluated. In addition, antibiotic susceptibility pattern, and phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of those isolates were determined via antibiotyping and pulsed field gel electrophoresis methods, respectively.Results: Fifty of 69 children were considered to have nosocomial infection caused by Acinetobacter baumannii. Nosocomial pneumonia (50%) was the commonest type of those infections. The rate of carbapenem resistance was determined as 91.3%. Tigecycline resistance was found as 18.84%, while no isolate was found to have colistine resistance. Following antibiotyping, 69 Acinetobacter baumannii isolates clustered into two groups of which the biggest have 62 members. Totally 10 groups which were consisted of 8 major and two minor groups were determined via pulsed field gel electrophoresis.Conclusion: Acinetobacter baumannii isolates are leading cause of nosocomial infections have high rate multi-drug antibiotic resistance. Molecular typing methods are over phenotyping methods in determining the type of Acinetobacter baumannii isolate.Key words: Nosocomial infections, Acinetobacter baumanni, pulsed field gel electrophoresis.