Investigation of multidrug-resistant ST2 Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from Saint George hospital in Lebanon

• Main Authors: Tania Nawfal Dagher, Charbel Al-Bayssari, Selma Chabou, Nadine Antar, Seydina M. Diene, Eid Azar, Jean-Marc Rolain
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2019-02-01
• Series: BMC Microbiology
• Subjects: Acinetobacter baumannii; OXA-23; ST2 clone
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12866-019-1401-2

Abstract Background Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen causing various nosocomial infections. The spread of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii is a major public health problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular epidemiology and the genetic support of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii isolates collected from Saint-Georges Hospital in Lebanon. Methods Between January and August 2016, 31 A. baumannii isolates were collected from sputum samples of patients infected with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and treated with colistin-carbapenem combination therapy. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. Carbapenemases, extended spectrum β-lactamases encoding genes and mcr-1/2 genes were investigated by RT-PCR and standard PCR. The epidemiological relatedness of the strains was studied using MLST analysis. Results Most of the isolates exhibited multidrug-resistant phenotypes. All the isolates were carbapenem-resistant and among them, 30 carried the class D carbapenemase bla oxa-23 gene while one isolate carried bla oxa-72 gene. MLST results revealed three sequence types, namely ST2, ST699, and ST627. Isolates having ST2 were the most prevalent clone (29/31, 93.5%). Conclusions This study shows a nosocomial spread of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii ST2 having bla OXA-23 gene in Saint-George in Lebanon. Monitoring and control measures need to be adopted to avoid the spread of A. baumannii to patients.