Characteristics of invasive Acinetobacter species isolates recovered in a pediatric academic center. Issue 1 (December 2016) - Jain, Avish
Abstract Background Acinetobacter species are associated with increasing mortality due to emerging drug-resistance. PediatricAcinetobacter infections are largely undefined in developed countries and clinical laboratory identification methods do not reliably differentiate between members of theAcinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii complex, leading to improper identification. Therefore we aimed to determine risk factors for invasiveAcinetobacter infections within an academic, pediatric setting as well as defining microbiologic characteristics of predominant strains. Methods Twenty-four invasiveAcinetobacter isolates were collected from 2009–2013. Comparative sequence analysis of therpoB gene was performed coupled with phenotypic characterization of antibiotic resistance, motility, biofilm production and clinical correlation. Results Affected patients had a median age of 3.5 years, and 71 % had a central catheter infection source.rpoB gene sequencing revealed a predominance ofA. pittii (45.8 %) andA. baumannii (33.3 %) strains. There was increasing incidence ofA. pittii over the study. Two fatalities occurred in theA. pittii group. Seventeen percent of isolates were multi-drug resistant.A pittii andA. baumannii strains were similar in motility, butA pittii strains had significantly more biofilm production (P value = 0.018). Conclusions A. pittii was the most isolated species highlighting the need for proper species identification. The isolated strains had limited acute mortality in children, but the occurrence of more multi-drug resistant strains in the future is a distinct possibility, justifying continued research and accurate species identification.