Current Trends of Drug Resistance Patterns of Acinetobacter baumannii Infection in Blood Transfusion-dependent Thalassemia Patients

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate the current trends of drug resistance patterns of Acinetobacter baumannii infection in blood transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients. STUDY DESIGN: This study was a cross sectional study, conducted at the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro/Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan from October 2014 to January 2016. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Of 921 blood samples, A. baumannii strains were isolated from 100 blood samples. Blood samples were processed for the isolation, identification, and drugs sensitivity as per the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. A. baumannii strains were identified by microbiological methods and Gram's staining. API 20 E kit (Biomeriuex, USA) was also used for identification. Data were analyzed on Statisti × 8.1 (USA). RESULTS: Mean ± standard deviation age was 11.5 ± 2.8 years. Nearly 70% were male and 30% were female (P = 0.0001). Of 921 blood transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients, 100 (10.8%) patients showed growth of A. baumannii. Drug resistance was observed against the ceftazidime, cefixime, cefepime, imipenem, meropenem, amikacin, minocycline, tigecycline, and tazocin except for the colistin. CONCLUSION: The present study reports drug-resistant A. baumannii in blood transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients. National multicenter studies are recommended to estimate the size of the problem.