Investigation of multidrug-resistant ST2 Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from Saint George hospital in Lebanon

Tania Nawfal Dagher (1) , Charbel Al-Bayssari (2) , Selma Chabou (1) , Nadine Antar (3) , Seydina Diene (1) , Eid Azar (3) , Jean-Marc Rolain (1)

1 MEPHI - Microbes évolution phylogénie et infections
2 LU / ULB - الجامعة اللبنانية [بيروت] = Lebanese University [Beirut] = Université libanaise [Beyrouth]
3 UOB - University of Balamand [Liban]

Background Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen causing various nosocomial infections. The spread of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii is a major public health problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular epidemiology and the genetic support of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii isolates collected from Saint-Georges Hospital in Lebanon. Methods Between January and August 2016, 31 A. baumannii isolates were collected from sputum samples of patients infected with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and treated with colistin-carbapenem combination therapy. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. Carbapenemases, extended spectrum β-lactamases encoding genes and mcr-1/2 genes were investigated by RT-PCR and standard PCR. The epidemiological relatedness of the strains was studied using MLST analysis. Results Most of the isolates exhibited multidrug-resistant phenotypes. All the isolates were carbapenem-resistant and among them, 30 carried the class D carbapenemase blaoxa-23 gene while one isolate carried blaoxa-72 gene. MLST results revealed three sequence types, namely ST2, ST699, and ST627. Isolates having ST2 were the most prevalent clone (29/31, 93.5%). Conclusions This study shows a nosocomial spread of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii ST2 having blaOXA-23 gene in Saint-George in Lebanon. Monitoring and control measures need to be adopted to avoid the spread of A. baumannii to patients.

Mots clés: Acinetobacter baumannii; OXA-23; ST2 clone

Domaines: Bactériologie; Pharmacologie

Tania Nawfal Dagher, Charbel Al-Bayssari, Selma Chabou, Nadine Antar, Seydina Diene, et al.. Investigation of multidrug-resistant ST2 Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from Saint George hospital in Lebanon. BMC Microbiology, 2019, 19 (1), ⟨10.1186/s12866-019-1401-2⟩. ⟨hal-02202235⟩