Phenotypic characterization of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from intensive care units at a tertiary-care hospital in Egypt

Multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains of Acinetobacter baumannii are responsible for an increasing number of opportunistic infections in hospitals. This study determined the prevalence of MDR A. baumannii isolates from intensive care units in a large tertiary-care hospital in Ismailia, Egypt, and the occurrence of different beta-lactamases in these isolates. Biotyping and antimicrobial susceptibility profile was done for isolated strains. Respiratory, urine, burn wound and blood specimens were collected from 350 patients admitted to different units; 10 strains (2.9%) of A. baumannii were isolated. All isolates showed resistance to more than 3 classes of antibiotics. Among the isolates, 6 isolates were carbapenemase producers, 2 were AmpC beta-lactamase producers and no isolates were metallo-betalactamase producers. Despite the low prevalence of A. baumannii infection in this hospital, the antibiotic resistance profile suggests that prevention of health-care-associated transmission of MDR Acinetobacter spp. infection is essential.