African Journal of Parasitology Research

ISSN 2756-3391

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2756-3391 Vol. 8 (2), pp. 001-005, February, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of the molecular epidemiology of nosocomial strains of Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from Nepal

Badri Thapa1, Chanwit Tribuddharat2 and Sulochana Mahat Basnet3

1Department of Microbiology, Kathmandu Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal, Microbiology Section, Genesis Laboratory and Research, Kathmandu, Nepal.

2Department of Microbiology, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.

3Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.

Accepted 22 November, 2020

Abstract

The molecular epidemiology of fifteen clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii recovered from various clinical specimens from different wards during January to June, 2010 from a hospital in Nepal was evaluated. Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion test was used for determining in-vitro activities of antibiotics. Molecular epidemiology was investigated by polymerase chain reaction-randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (PCR-RAPD) and plasmid profiling. A. baumannii recovered were multidrug resistant. Isolates represented three antibiotypes (a, b and c). Isolates in antibiotype c (n=12) were resistant to all antibiotics tested while isolates in antibiotype a (n=2) was susceptible to netilmicin and b (n=1) was susceptible to aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones tested. Four plasmid profiles (i) 1 isolate; (ii) 1 isolate; (iii) 1 isolate; and (iv) 12 isolates and four PCR-RAPD types (I)1isolate; (II) 8 isolates; (III) 1 isolate; (IV) 5 isolates revealed oligoclonal population of A. baumannii. Antibiotypes, plasmid profiles and PCR-RAPD types showed no empirical association. A. baumannii isolates were oligoclonal and multi-drug resistant. The emergence of multi-drug resistant oligoclonal population of this pathogen in a hospital warrants for development of appropriate antibiotic policies and immediate implementation of infection prevention and control measures.

Key words: Acinetobacter baumannii, multidrug-resistant, oligoclonal, Nepal.