Detection of drug resistance-associated genes of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

The beta-lactamase (BLA) genes, the genes for aminoglycosides-modifying enzymes (AMEs), disinfectant-sulfanilamide resistance (qacEDelta1-sul1) genes, class 1 integrase (intl1) gene, and the qnr gene associated with plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance were analyzed using PCR and verified by DNA sequencing for 31 clinical isolates of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB). The organism typing was performed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The positive rate of ADC, TEM, PER, and DHA of BLA genes were 100%, 61.3%, 19.4%, and 3.2%, respectively; however, the genes of SHV, OXA-23 group, OXA-24 group, GES, VIM, IMP, and qnr gene were negative. The positive rate of the genes of AMEs for aac (3)-I, aac (6')-I, ant (3")-I, ant (2")-I, aac (3)-II, and aac (6')-II were 67.7%, 45.2%, 29.0%, 22.6%, 12.9%, and 3.2%, respectively. The positive rate of qacEDelta1-sul1 and intl1 were 80.6% and 58.1%, respectively. Six different PFGE clones were found, of which two dominated. The findings show that clinical isolates of MDRAB harbor various kinds of resistance genes.