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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Rapid and Specific Detection of Acinetobacter baumannii Infections Using a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification/Cas12a-based System
07:59

Rapid and Specific Detection of Acinetobacter baumannii Infections Using a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification/Cas12a-based System

Published on: April 25, 2025

Multicenter outbreak of plasmid-encoded blaOXA-72 Acinetobacter baumannii in southern Poland

T Kasperski1, R Arazo Del Pino2,3, K Xanthopoulou2,3

  • 1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
|June 26, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAb) outbreaks are driven by the OXA-72 carbapenemase gene on a conserved plasmid (p398AB) within a successful international clone 2 lineage. This finding aids in developing rapid molecular screening tools for outbreak investigations.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Microbiology
  • Genomics
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAb) poses a significant threat in healthcare settings due to its resistance to last-resort antibiotics.
  • The mobile genetic elements and specific lineages driving CRAb outbreaks are often not fully understood, hindering effective control strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the molecular epidemiology and resistance mechanisms of CRAb isolates from multiple hospitals in southern Poland.
  • To identify the specific carbapenemase genes, their genetic context (plasmids), and the clonal lineages involved in regional CRAb spread.

Main Methods:

  • Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) were employed to characterize 70 CRAb isolates.
  • Plasmid reconstruction and in silico KL/OCL typing were performed to analyze resistance determinants and their mobile elements.
  • Transformation experiments were conducted to confirm the carbapenem resistance phenotype conferred by the identified plasmid.

Main Results:

  • All isolates belonged to international clone 2 (IC2) or other known sequence types (STs).
  • The blaOXA-72 gene was highly prevalent (71.4%), located on a conserved ~10.9 kb plasmid (p398AB) with two copies of the gene.
  • cgMLST revealed a large multicenter cluster of blaOXA-72-positive isolates, indicating dissemination of a successful IC2 lineage and the p398AB plasmid across multiple hospitals.

Conclusions:

  • The study highlights the unusual dominance of plasmid-encoded blaOXA-72 within a multicenter IC2 outbreak in southern Poland.
  • The conserved p398AB plasmid represents a practical target for rapid molecular screening in CRAb outbreak investigations.
  • Effective surveillance requires integrating analyses of clonal relatedness with the tracking of transferable resistance plasmids.
Keywords:
Acinetobacter baumanniiGR2 plasmidblaOXA-1223blaOXA-23blaOXA-72carbapenem resistancecore genome MLST (cgMLST)international clone 2 (IC2)whole-genome sequencing (WGS)

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