Outbreak of multiresistant OXA-24- and OXA-51-producing Acinetobacter baumannii in an internal medicine ward

Here we describe the clinical, microbiological, epidemiological, and molecular characterization of an outbreak of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MRAB) involving 5 patients admitted to the internal medicine ward of our hospital. Over a 6-week period, 5 MRAB isolates were recovered from 5 patients, including 1 with fatal meningitis, 3 with skin and soft tissue infections, and 1 with respiratory colonization. One sample obtained during environmental monitoring in the ward was A. baumannii-positive. According to the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing results, the strains isolated from all patients and the environmental sample belonged to a single clone, identified as ST79 by multilocus sequence typing. The blaOXA-24 and blaOXA-51 carbapenemases were detected in all isolates. Four patients died, but only the death of the meningitis patient was probably related to the A. baumannii infection. The infection source was probably the hands of the healthcare workers because the outbreak strain was isolated from the surface of a serum container. The results of the present study revealed the importance of strict adherence to control measures by all healthcare workers because the consequences of noncompliance can be very serious.