RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Epidemiological evaluation of an Acinetobacter baumannii outbreak observed at an intensive care unit JF Saudi Medical Journal JO Saudi Med J FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City SP 767 OP 772 DO 10.15537/smj.2018.8.22431 VO 39 IS 8 A1 Atik, Tuğba K. A1 Atik, Bülent A1 Kilinç, Osman A1 Bektöre, Bayhan A1 Duran, Hülya A1 Selek, Burak M. A1 Ceken, Nihan A1 Baylan, Orhan A1 Özyurt, Mustafa YR 2018 UL http://smj.org.sa/content/39/8/767.abstract AB Objectives: To reveal the relationship between clinical and environmental isolates, analyzing both phenotypic and molecular aspects, in an Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) epidemic, and to use the epidemiological data to determine the source of the epidemic, to identify potential risk factors, and inform the effort to prevent and manage future epidemics.Methods: Acinetobacter baumannii was isolated from 5 clinical samples in Sultan Abdulhamid Han Training and Research hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, for a week period. To determine potential sources of infection we established cultures surveillance. Microbiological identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing of A. baumannii were performed using conventional methods and automated identification system. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were used for carbapenemase gene screening and clonal relationship evaluation.Results: Among the environmental samples, bacterial growth was observed in 3 of the sample cultures. Clinical and environmental samples collected from patients X and Y had phenotypically similar antibiotic susceptibility patterns. The clinical and environmental isolates from patients X and Y comprised the first cluster (6 isolates), the isolates from patient Z formed the second cluster (2 isolates).Conclusion: We detected that all outbreak-related isolates contained the same OXA-type carbapenemase genes. Phenotypic similarity, based on the analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, was correlated with genotypic similarity. These results suggest that monitoring antimicrobial resistance patterns with daily culture surveillance follow-ups, coupled with the use of amplification based methods to detect that clonal relationships are important for the early identification of outbreaks and rapid deployment of proper countermeasures to halt the spread of the causative agent.