New microbes and new infections
Molecular evidence of a dominant multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii lineage in a tertiary hospital in northern Peru
By Quispe Choque KG, Ruiz Quiñones N, Binatti Ferreira M and 5 others.
Abstract
Background
Acinetobacter baumannii is a major nosocomial pathogen because of its genomic plasticity and capacity to acquire multidrug resistance (MDR), particularly resistance to carbapenems. The World Health Organization classifies carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii as a critical-priority pathogen. Molecular epidemiological data from Latin America remain limited, especially for northern Peru.
Methods
Drug-resistant A. baumannii isolates collected between 2015 and 2021 at a tertiary referral hospital in northern Peru were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, BOX-PCR, ERIC-PCR, REP-PCR, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).
Results
All seven isolates met the criteria for MDR, and Ac-4268 showed an extensively drug-resistant phenotype. Repetitive-element PCR identified a group of six isolates with similar banding profiles and a divergent isolate, Ac-4268. Several isolates in the six-isolate group retained susceptibility to one or more aminoglycosides, whereas Ac-4268 was resistant to all antimicrobials tested. The combined molecular and phenotypic findings are consistent with the possible persistence of a dominant related lineage, but they do not establish transmission without whole-genome sequencing and epidemiological linkage data.