Abstract

The aim of this study is to carry out an investigation on multi-drug resistance inAcinetobacter baumannii strains that are isolated from clinical samples of three highly large hospitals in Tehran-Iran. This descriptive-cross sectional study was performed in three large hospitals in Tehran on 70 samples of Acinetobacter which were isolated from patients during April to November 2010. After identifying the species level by using culture and biochemical methods, in order to determine the sensitivity of 50 isolates of A. baumannii to 13 antibiotics, standard methods according to CLSI guidelines were performed. In this study, resistance to three or more than three classes of antibiotics multidrug resistance was defined. In this study, 50 A. baumannii strains, 12 A. lwoffiistrains and other Acinetobacter species were isolated from patients. The majority of isolates were from blood specimens. Isolates of A. baumannii showed the highest resistance to cefepime, ceftazidime, aztreonam, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and amikacin. Tobramycin and meropenem were considered as effective drugs in this study. Multi-drug resistance in these strains was 55.4%, respectively. Multi-drug resistant Acinetobacters are growing and are considered as an important threat for hospitalized patients, so a change in consumption patterns of antibiotics and control of hospital infections seems to be necessary.

Key words: Acinetobacter baumannii, nosocomial infection, multi-drug resistance, antibiogram.