[In vitro tigecycline and carbapenem susceptibilities of clinical Acinetobacter baumannii isolates]

Acinetobacter baumannii is a frequent cause of nosocomial infections in most hospitals. Management of infections caused by these strains is difficult, as the strains often display multiple drug resistance, including carbapenem. Tigecycline which is a glycylcycline derivative has antimicrobial activity against many gram-positive and gram-negative organisms. In this study, in vitro activity of tigecycline and carbapenems against clinical isolates of A.baumannii strains were investigated. A total of 100 A.baumannii isolates were collected from hospitalized patients with documented nosocomial infections [pneumonia (n = 39), surgical wound infection (n = 32), bacteremia (n = 16), catheter infection (n = 6), urinary tract infection (n = 5), peritonitis (n = 1), eye infection (n = 1)] between October 2006 and June 2007. Only one isolate per patient was included to the study. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of tigecycline were determined by E-test (AB Biodisk, Sweden). Carbapenem resistance of A.baumannii strains were determined by disk diffusion method. All of the 100 A.baumannii isolates (100%) were found susceptible to tigecycline (MIC values ≤ 2 µg/ml; MIC ranges: 0.032-1.5 µg/ml). Imipenem susceptibility test was performed for 95 strains, and 36 (37.9%) were found sensitive, 18 (18.9%) were intermediate sensitive, and 41 (43.2%) were resistant. Meropenem susceptibility test was performed for 87 strains, and 22 (25.3%) were found sensitive, 9 (10.3%) were intermediate sensitive, and 56 (64.4%) were resistant. Since tigecycline is found quite effective on nosocomial A.baumannii isolates, it may be considered as a treatment alternative in infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp.