Evaluation of molecular epidemiology and antibiotic susceptibility of Acinetobacter baumanii, in burned patients of Motahari hospital

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii, as a nosocomial opportunistic pathogen, is resistant to a wide range of antibiotics and is responsible for numerous infections including bacteria, pneumonia, meningitis, urinary tract infections and wounds. The aim of this study was to determine frequency of molecular epidemiology and antibiotic susceptibility of Acinetobacter baumanii, in burned patients Materials & methods:A total of 108 A. baumannii strains were collected from burn patients admitted to Motahari hospital, Iran. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed according to the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method. DNA extraction and Typing of strains was performed by PCR amplification of repetitive extragenic palindromic elements (REP-PCR). Results: Our results showed that 98 strains were identified as A. baumannii by phenotypic tests. Also, 96 of 98 strains were PCR positive for blaOXA-51-like genes. Based on Antimicrobial susceptibility test 84 isolates (87.5%) were colistin sensitive, and 12 strains (12.5%) were resistant to colistin. Conclusion: Our results showed that the incidence of A. baumannii strains is high in patients and blaOXA-51-like was the most prevalent gene among the burn clinical isolates of A. baumannii. Also, more than 85% of the isolates were resistant to most antibiotics.