Infect Chemother.  2004 Oct;36(5):271-278.

Antimicrobial Resistance of Clinical Isolates of Acinetobacter spp. Collected from Non-Tertiary Hospitals and Detection of a Metallo-beta-Lactamase-Producing Strain

• Lee JK
• Yoo YS
• Lee YS
• Yoo JI
• Kim BS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance of clinical isolates of Acinetobacter spp. collected from non-tertiary hospitals and to characterize the phenotype and the genotype of imipenem-non-susceptible isolates.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Clinical isolates of Acinetobacter spp. were identified using recA-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with Tsp5091. Susceptibility to antimicrobial agents was determined using disk diffusion test and agar dilution test according to the criteria of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. PCR and sequence analyses were used to detect the blaIMP-1 and blaVIM-2 genes, and to determine the content and order of the resistance genes inserted in integron.
RESULTS
Of 71 Acinetobacter spp. isolates collected from non-tertiary hospitals during 2002 and 2003, 60 isolates were A. baumannii, and 2, 4, and 5 isolates were Acinetobacter genomic species 3, 13TU, and A. lwoffii, respectively. The resistance rate of Acinetobacter spp. isolates to beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones was high except for imipenem and meropenem. The presence of blaVIM-2 gene was found in one isolate, Acinetobacter genomic species 13TU, for which the MIC of imipenem was 8 mg/L; the blaVIM-2 gene of this strain was located on 3 kb class 1 integron with aacA7 and aadA1 genes.
CONCLUSIONS
Among the tested agents, imipenem and meropenem retained greatest activity against Acinetobacter spp. isolates collected from non-tertiary hospitals. This is the first report of VIM-2-producing Acinetobacter genomic species 13TU strains with class 1 integron containing blaVIM-2 gene.

Keyword

Acinetobacter spp.; Antimicrobial resistance; Integron; blaVIM-2

MeSH Terms

Acinetobacter*
Agar
Aminoglycosides
Anti-Infective Agents
beta-Lactams
Diffusion
Fluoroquinolones
Genotype
Imipenem
Integrons
Phenotype
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Analysis
Agar
Aminoglycosides
Anti-Infective Agents
Fluoroquinolones
Imipenem
beta-Lactams