Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026

Rapid and Specific Detection of Acinetobacter baumannii Infections Using a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification/Cas12a-based System
Published on: April 25, 2025
A bronchofiberoscopy-associated outbreak of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in an intensive care unit in
Yukun Xia1, CuiLing Lu, Jingya Zhao
1Department for Hospital Infection Control & Research, Institute of Disease Control & Prevention of People's Liberation Army, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Fengtai Dong Street 20, Beijing, China.
Background:
Bronchofiberscopy, a widely used procedure for the diagnosis of various pulmonary diseases within intensive care units, has a history of association with nosocomial infections. Between September and November 2009, an outbreak caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-Ab) was observed in the intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital in Beijing, China. This study is aimed to describe the course and control of this outbreak and investigate the related risk factors.
Methods:
Clinical and environmental sampling, genotyping with repetitive extragenic palindromic polymerase chain reaction (REP-PCR), and case-control risk factor analysis were performed in the current study.
Results:
During the epidemic period, 12 patients were infected or colonized with MDR-Ab. Sixteen (72.7%) of twenty-two MDR-Ab isolates from the 12 patients and 22 (84.6%) of 26 MDR-Ab isolates from the bronchofiberscope and the healthcare-associated environment were clustered significantly into a major clone (outbreak MDR-Ab strain) by REP-PCR typing. Seven patients carrying the outbreak MDR-Ab strain were defined as the cases. Six of the seven cases (83%) received bronchofiberscopy versus four of the 19 controls (21%) (odds ratio, 22.5; 95% confidence interval, 2.07-244.84; P = 0.005). Several potential administrative and technical problems existed in bronchofiberscope reprocessing.
Conclusions:
Bronchofiberscopy was associated with this MDR-Ab outbreak. Infection control precautions including appropriate bronchofiberscope reprocessing and environmental decontamination should be strengthened.
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