Fereshteh Eftekhar - Shahid Beheshti University
Nasrin Esmaeeli Torkanpoory - EbneSina Hospital, Tehran, Iran

Introduction: Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the major causes of nosocomial infections. We investigated the distribution of A. baumannii among patients and the environment in special care units of a hospital in Tehran, Iran. Methods: Sixty-nine non-duplicate clinical and environmental samples were collected from ICU, Post-ICU, and CCU in EbneSina Hospital (Tehran, Iran) from June ۲۰۱۵ to April ۲۰۱۶. The isolates were identified using standard biochemical tests, and their identity was confirmed by detection of blaoxa۵۱ gene. Susceptibility to ۱۴ antibiotics was determined by disc the diffusion method, and genetic fingerprinting of the isolates was performed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR). Results: We recovered ۶۶ A. baumannii isolates, ۴۱ from patients, and ۲۵ from the environment. All isolates from patients were resistant to all tested antibiotics except colistin. Environmental isolates were resistant to piperacillin (۱۰۰%), tetracycline, piperacillin/tazobactam, beta-lactams and quinolones (۸۶%), and amikacin (۸۱%) but sensitive to colistin. The RAPD-PCR results revealed ۳۵ clusters with ۸۰% similarity. Despite the heterogeneity among the RAPD-PCR profiles, similar patterns were observed among ۱۱ clusters comprising both clinical and environmental isolates. Conclusion: The results of this research suggest that the presence of A. baumannii on environmental surfaces could have played an essential role in the colonization of the hospitalized patients.

Acinetobacter baumannii, RAPD-PCR, MDR, ICU, environmental contamination.