Antimicrobial resistance and DNA-fingerprinting pattern of Burkholderia cepacia blood isolates

The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of six antibiotics against 33 strains of Burkholderia cepacia isolated from 33 patients suspected of having sepsis or bacteremia were determined. All the B. cepacia isolates were resistant to gentamicin (MIC(90), >128 microg/ml), and 21.2% were resistant to imipenem (MIC(90), 16 microg/ml). They were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, ceftazidime, and minocycline (MIC(90), 2-8 microg/ml). The 33 blood isolates were classified into 12 types (A-L) by the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis pattern. All 11 of A type, 2/4 of B type, 3/4 of C type, 4/5 of E type, and both G type B. cepacia were isolated from different patients in the same hospital. These results suggest that B. cepacia can spread among patients with sepsis or bacteremia.