Identifying Opportunistic Healthcare-Associated Pathogens

The rod-shaped gram-negative bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii can be an opportunistic pathogen that creates infections in immune compromised patients and is being viewed as more as a healthcare-associated infection (HAI). 

Investigators in Egypt conducted a study to evaluate the prevalence and the performance of Metallo-B-lactamase (MBLs) producing A. baumannii isolates. This study looked at 500 patients and they viewed a number of various clinical specimens, i.e. sputum, endotracheal aspirate (ETA), pus, urine and blood samples from patients in the surgical departments and intensive care units (ICUs) during the period between May 2016 and September 2018.

A. baumannii was isolated from 27 patients out of 217 infected patients. The patients’ ages ranged from 14 to 85 years old.

“A. baumannii was considered the third most common gram-negative organism isolated,” the investigators wrote. “A. baumannii isolated from ICUs showed significantly higher Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) for carbapenems than those isolated from any other wards (P values < 0.000). 16(59.3%) out of the 25 (92.6%) carbapenem-resistant isolates had values ≥ 32 µg/ml.”

The data was presented at the 2021 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology conference virtual sessions.

“Detection of MBLs-producing pathogens is alarming [and] a serious healthcare problem in our hospital and reflects excessive use of carbapenem,” the investigators concluded.