Patient Demographics and Characteristics of Infection with Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in a Teaching Hospital from the United States

Abstract

A characterization of the clinical demographic features of patients with infection caused Acinetobacter baumannii, and the antibiotyping of the isolates recovered from these patients was undertaken, with a special reference to carbapenem-resistant variants, and their risk factors. This study was conducted retrospectively from January 2010 to March 2011 at a 616-bed tertiary care university hospital. Sixty-four patients were identified. Clinical and microbiological data were analyzed for risk factors and demographic features to derive relative risk and odds ratio. We identified 100 A. baumannii from 64 patients during 15 months period. Significant risk factors were working age (18 - 60 years), male gender, hospital stay (>1 week but <1 month), prior hospitalization, in a progressive care nursing units, respiratory/mechanical ventilation, polymicrobial infections and prior antibiotic therapy. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the significant co-infecting agents. The antibiogram demonstrated multidrug resistance in a majority of the isolates. Relative risk associated with ventilator, diabetes, and surgery was higher in repeat isolates than in first isolates and were multidrug resistant. Repeat isolates were more resistant that the first isolates to most anti-acinetobacter agents, but the overall crude mortality was not significant during this study period, and couldn’t correlated to the choice of treatment. In conclusion, a resistance against all clinically used carbapenems, and colistin is rapidly increasing in repeat isolates of A. baumannii; leaves narrow therapeutic options to treat multidrug-resistant and pandrug-resistant A. baumannii infection. For the first time we report rising incidence of colistin resistance by 20 percent in repeat isolates, and is worrisome for healthcare centers. A combination therapy should be adopted to treat such infection to avoid the emergence of colistin-resistant phenotypes in the United States.