Emergence of carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii clonal complexes CC2 and CC10 among fecal carriages in an educational hospital

Abstract

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains are increasing worldwide. In this study, samples were collected from hospital environments, extra hospital environments, and fecal carriages. 76 (89/117) of bacterial isolates were detected as A. baumannii strains. The imipenem resistance in the hospital environment, fecal carriages, extra hospital environments, and clinical isolates was 37.7 (17/45), 100 (9/9), 0 (0/45), and 92.9 (92/99), respectively. The blaVIM and blaOXA-23 were detected in 6.6 (3/45) and 2.2 (1/45) of strains isolated from hospital environments. Interestingly, strains isolated from fecal carriages had blaVIM, blaOXA-23, and blaIMP genes which resembled carbapenem resistance genes in clinical strains. The structure of clonal relatedness among all non-clinical isolates was as follows: CC2, 37 (33/89); CC1, 22.4 (20/89); CC3, 12.3 (11/89); CC25, 7.8 (7/89); CC10, 4.4 (4/89) and CC15, 2.2 (2/89). Comparison of clonal relatedness among clinical and non-clinical isolates indicated that widespread clones including CC2, CC3, and CC10 were common clonal complexes between two categories.