Colistin resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from critically ill patients: clinical characteristics, antimicrobial susceptibility and outcome

BACKGROUND: Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) is increasingly becoming a clinically relevant organism due to the rising number of associated nosocomial infections. The therapeutic options are extremely minimal because of its ability to develop resistance to all available antimicrobials, including colistin (CST). Data on the clinical and microbiological characteristics of colistin-resistant A. baumannii infections remain scarce to date. METHODS: In this prospective study, clinical isolates of colistin resistance among Acinetobacter strain was evaluated from the database of Microbiology Laboratory of King Khalid University Hospital, Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: In a total of 142 patients with 136 Acinetobacter isolates, Acintobacter baumannii was the predominant serotype 73% of the isolates and Acinetobacter lwoffii constituted 27% of the isolate . There was 8.5% colistin resistant isolates with colistin E-test MIC >4. The clinical characteristics were determined for colistin resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. All patients were critically ill and 64% of them were hositalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). All patients have been previously given antibiotics. Other associated clinical characteristics included; morbid obesity and sleeve gastrectomy (21 %), mechanical ventilation and central venous catheter (50%). High mortality rate was found(28%). CONCLUSION: There is an increase of colistin resistance among clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii causing serious infections especially in critically ill patients.