Molecular Characterization and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Acinetobacter Baumannii Isolated in Intensive Care Unit Patients in Al-Hassa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Acinetobacter baumannii, is an emerging nosocomial multidrug resistance pathogen with the rapid spread of clones being reported in health-care settings and hospitals worldwide. Carbapenem resistance in this bacterium has been attributed to D OXA β-lactamases with OXA-51-like β-lactamase, being present in all A. baumannii isolate. The present study looks into the antibiotics susceptibility and molecular characterization of clinical A. baumannii isolates from Intensive Care Unit (ICU) samples in Al-Hofuf, South-eastern region of Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven strains of ICU A. baumanni i isolates were used for the investigation. Bacteria isolation was by basic microbiological techniques. Organisms identification and antibiogram susceptibility testing was by the BioMerieux VITEK 2 compact automated system (BioMerieux, Marcy I'Etoile France), according to the manufacturers guidelines. Confirmation of A. baumannii was by the presence of the OX-51 gene, also, carbapenemase encoding resistant genesbla(OXA-23), bla(OXA-40), and bla(OXA-51), were analyzed using multiplex PCR. The Student's t test was used to analyze the obtained data for between group comparisons with statistically significance level set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: Eight of the isolates were confirmed to be A. baumannii. Five of which were resistant to the carbapenems against which they had been tested. One isolate was resistant to tigecycline, whereas three tested intermediate to the drug. OXA-23 was detected in isolates 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7. CONCLUSION: It can, therefore, be concluded that the probable predominate carbapenems resistant genes in ICU isolates from the present investigation, are those associated with OXA-23.