Patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infections are colonized in the gastrointestinal tract with
Kerri A Thom1, William W L Hsiao, Anthony D Harris
1Division of Healthcare Outcomes Research, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 100 N. Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. kthom@epi.umaryland.edu
Abstract:
In this study, we identified critically ill patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bacteremia and examined perirectal surveillance cultures for the presence of genetically related A baumannii strains using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to determine whether gut colonization preceded clinical infection. Seven patients with imipenem-resistant A baumannii bacteremia were identified from January to June of 2008. Six of 7 (86%) patients were colonized in the gastrointestinal tract with genetically similar strains preceding their bacteremia.
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