Molecular surveillance of European quinolone-resistant clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. using automated ribotyping

J Clin Microbiol. 2000 Oct;38(10):3636-45. doi: 10.1128/JCM.38.10.3636-3645.2000.

Abstract

Nosocomial isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. exhibit high rates of resistance to antibiotics and are often multidrug resistant. In a previous study (D. Milatovic, A. Fluit, S. Brisse, J. Verhoef, and F. J. Schmitz, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 44:1102-1107, 2000), isolates of these species that were resistant to sitafloxacin, a new advanced-generation fluoroquinolone with a high potency and a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity, were found in high proportion in 23 European hospitals. Here, we investigate the clonal diversity of the 155 P. aeruginosa and 145 Acinetobacter spp. sitafloxacin-resistant isolates from that study by automated ribotyping. Numerous ribogroups (sets of isolates with indistinguishable ribotypes) were found among isolates of P. aeruginosa (n = 34) and Acinetobacter spp. (n = 16), but the majority of the isolates belonged to a limited number of major ribogroups. Sitafloxacin-resistant isolates (MICs > 2 mg/liter, used as a provisional breakpoint) showed increased concomitant resistance to piperacillin, piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, amikacin, gentamicin, and imipenem. The major ribogroups were repeatedly found in isolates from several European hospitals; these isolates showed higher levels of resistance to gentamicin and imipenem, and some of them appeared to correspond to previously described multidrug-resistant international clones of P. aeruginosa (serotype O:12) and Acinetobacter baumannii (clones I and II). Automated ribotyping, when used in combination with more discriminatory typing methods, may be a convenient library typing system for monitoring future epidemiological dynamics of geographically widespread multidrug-resistant bacterial clones.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 4-Quinolones
  • Acinetobacter / classification
  • Acinetobacter / drug effects
  • Acinetobacter / genetics*
  • Acinetobacter Infections / microbiology*
  • Anti-Infective Agents / pharmacology*
  • Automation
  • Cross Infection / microbiology*
  • Drug Resistance, Microbial*
  • Europe
  • Fluoroquinolones*
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Epidemiology / methods
  • Phylogeny
  • Pseudomonas Infections / microbiology*
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / classification
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / drug effects
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / genetics*
  • Ribotyping / methods
  • South Africa

Substances

  • 4-Quinolones
  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • Fluoroquinolones
  • sitafloxacin