epidemiology of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from patients with severe sepsis in anesthesia intensive care unit
Birgül YELKEN*, Nilüfer ERKASAP**, Banu BAYRAM***^,°, Tercan US****, Ilkay CEYLAN*, Mete ÖZKURT**, Ferhat Gürkan ASLAN****
* Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Medical Faculty, Anestesiology and Critical Care Medicine Department, Eskişehir, Turkey
** Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Medical Faculty, Physiology Department, Eskişehir, Turkey
*** Muş Alparslan University, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Biology, Muş, Turkey
**** Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Medical Faculty, Microbiology Department, Eskişehir, Turkey

° Corresponding Author E-mail: bayrambanu@hotmail.com

Summary

Aim: Acinetobacter baumannii is considered as an emerging nosocomial pathogen in intensive care units. The most frequent clinical manifestation is sepsis. The aim of this study was to make an epidemiological surveillance of A.baumannii blood isolates from severe sepsis patients.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 34 patients with severe sepsis which has occured in anesthesia intensive care unit treatment conscutive three months period. In 11 of these blood samples A.baumannii was identified, DNA isolated and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR fingerprinting was performed for genotyping.

Results: DNA fingerprints identified 5 distinct strains in 11 patients and the similarity level was at the 70% between the most distant strains.
Conclusions: This study gives an idea about the sources of the strains of A. baumannii in the studied intensive care unit. But more comprehensive studies are needed to prevent hospital-acquired infections via determining the sources of bacteria.

Key Words :
Acinetobacter baumannii, Sepsis, RAPD-PCR, Epidemiology.