Genetic characteristics of Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii that cause nosocomial infections mainly in Intensive Care Units in some Egyptian Hospitals Abstract

Abstract

Nosocomial infections are one of the most common medical complications affecting patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs). This study aimed to investigate the multidrug-resistance (MDR), metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) production in imipenem resistant (IR) species, detection of biofilm, and molecular characterization of MDR-associated genes in A. baumannii (AB) isolated from ICUs in Egypt. A total 77 (25.08%) A. baumannii isolates were recovered from 307 Gram negative bacteria (GNB) collected from different clinical specimens of infected cases hospitalized at SICU, MICU, CCU, NICU and PICU in 4 different Egyptian Hospitals. MDR were observed in 55/77 isolates out of them, 33 isolates were meropenem resistant (MR), while 35 isolates were imipenem resistant (IR). Out of 35 IRAB 19 isolates were MBL producers by CDT while 25 isolates were MBL producers by DDST. Strong biofilm production was observed in (20/33 isolates) of MRAB. All A. baumannii strains involved in this study produced the expected band of 353 bp, for blaOXA-51-like gene. Among the 19 CDT-positive A. baumannii isolates, 11 (57.9%) isolates were detected MBL encoding gene (blaNDM) and 18/23 (78.3%) of tested isolates were positive for adeB gene. This study revealed that MDR A. baumannii strains accommodate blaOXA-51, blaNDM and adeB genes were widely circulating in ICUs of Egyptian hospitals. In addition, the MDR biofilm and MBL production were observed among A. baumannii isolates that represents a serious public health problem.