[Clonal diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Acinetobacter baumannii isolated in Spain. A nationwide multicenter study: GEIH-Ab project (2000)].

INTRODUCTION: A nationwide multicenter study was performed in Spain to evaluate the clonal diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates.
METHODS: A total of 221 consecutive A. baumannii isolates recovered from clinical samples from 25 Spanish hospitals during November 2000 were studied. Isolate identification was performed by phenotyping methods and by amplified rDNA restriction analysis. Clonal relationships among A. baumannii isolates were determined by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. MICs of amikacin (AK), ampicillin (AP), cephalothin (CF), cefoxitin (FX), ceftazidime (CZ), ciprofloxacin (CP), cotrimoxazole (T/S), doxycycline (DX), gemifloxacin (GX), gentamicin (GN), imipenem (IP), meropenem (MP), minocycline (MI), piperacillin (PP), polymyxin B (PB), rifampicin (RI), tetracycline (TT), sulbactam (SB) and tobramycin (TO) were determined by microdilution (NCCLS guidelines).
RESULTS: Seventy-nine A. baumannii clones were differentiated. MIC50/MIC90 (mg/L) values for the 221 A. baumannii isolates were PP: > 512/> 512; AP, CF, FX: > 256/> 256; TT, GN: > 128/> 128; CZ: 128/> 256; CP: > 64/> 64; FP: 64/256; AK: 32/256; DX: 32/64; GX: > 16/> 16; TO: 16/128; SB, T/S: 16/64; MP: 8/> 128; IP: 4/128; RF: 4/8; MI: 2/16 and PB: 1/2. Percentages of susceptible isolates were PB: 100%; MI: 65.8%; IP: 52.5%, RF: 49.3%; SB: 46.7%; MP: 43.1%; AK: 34.7%; DX: 32.0%; TO: 21.3% and CZ, FP, GN, T/S, TT, GX, CP, AP, PP, CF and FX: < 20%.
CONCLUSIONS: A. baumannii isolates show high clonal variability in Spain. The most active antimicrobial agents against this organism were polymyxin B, minocycline, rifampicin, imipenem, sulbactam, meropenem, amikacin and doxycycline.