DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2022.v10i04.003

Pages: 85-92

Acinetobacter sp bacteria especially Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a problematic multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogen worldwide. Acinetobacter baumannii are important healthcare-associated pathogens, widely distributed in soil, water, and commonly found in the hospital environment as opportunistic pathogens from a neonatal intensive care unit and an intensive care unit (NICUs and ICUs) these bacteria formed as major nosocomial infections in hospitals environment all over the world and in the Middle East. The aim of this study was to characterize clinical isolates of A. baumannii from Qasim Area, Saudi Arabia that has an in this study, 217 nonrepetitive clinical isolates of A. baumannii were identified through MALDI-TOF and susceptibility was determined with VITEK-2 systems . Genotypic characterization of the isolates was performed by using index1,2 primers typing and polymerase chain reaction screening was performed for carbapenemase genes, insertion sequences, metallo-β-lactamases, and cephalosporinase genes. The isolates were recovered from heterogeneous clinical specimens, and the majority of the cases of A. baumannii infection were acquired in the hospital and predominantly involved patients who were older than 50 years. Total, 57.7% of the isolates were MDR, and 56.8% isolates were resistant to carbapenem antibiotics. Approximately half of the isolates were resistant to cefepime, and ceftazidime among the β-lactam antibiotics and ciprofloxacin from the quinolone group. The blaOXA-23-like gene and ISAba1 upstream of blaOXA-23-like were detected in 93% of the carbapenem-resistant isolates, while all carbapenem-resistant isolates were found to carry blaOXA-51-like, and blaADC-type cephalosporinase gene. Data demonstrate the coexistence of multiple carbapenem resistance determinants in A. baumannii from the Qssim region of Saudi Arabia.