Extremely high prevalence of antiseptic resistant Quaternary Ammonium Compound E gene among clinical isolates of multiple drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in Malaysia

BACKGROUND: Antiseptics are commonly used for the management of MDR (multiple drug resistance) pathogens in hospitals. They play crucial roles in the infection control practices. Antiseptics are often used for skin antisepsis, gauze dressing, preparation of anatomical sites for surgical procedure, hand sterilization before in contact with an infected person, before an invasive procedure and as surgical scrub. METHODS: We screened 122 multiple drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB) isolated from admitted patients in one of the tertiary care hospital in Malaysia for the presence of antiseptic resistant genes qacA and qacE (Quaternary Ammonium Compound) and susceptibility towards chlorhexidine (CLX), benzalkonium (BZK) and benzethonium (BZT). RESULTS: Eighty-nine (73%) isolates harboured qacE gene, while none were positive for qacA. The MIC ranged from 0.2 to 0.6 for CLX, 0.02 to 0.2 for BZK and 0.04 to 0.2 μg/mL for BZT. The highest number of qacE positive isolates were obtained from surgery (n = 24; 27%; p < 0.05), followed by medical ward (n = 23; 25.8%) and ICU (n = 21; 23.6%). Majority of the isolates from wound swabs (n = 33; 37%), T/aspirate (n = 16; 18%) and tissue (n = 10; 11.2%) harboured the qacE genes. CONCLUSION: The present investigation showed high prevalence of qacE gene among the studied isolates. Antiseptics are important components of infection control, continuous monitoring of antiseptics use in the hospital is cautioned.