Background: Many nosocomial infections, which cause death and cost society, may be transmitted through healthcare workers’ contacts. Preventive health measures greatly reduce their prevalence. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the microbial contamination of healthcare workers’ hands in different wards of Sheikh Hospital. In addition, the alcohol-based hand sanitizers’ ability to reduce microbial load of nosocomial infections was evaluated. Methods: The present study was performed in spring 2019. Thirty-two nurses’ hand samples were obtained from different wards of the hospital, including emergency, ICU, surgery, peritoneal dialysis, nephrology, and hematology-oncology. Biochemical tests determined the isolates. Participants’ hands were cleaned using a standard procedure using soap and 70% isopropyl alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Results: Different species, including coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS), Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus, Klebsiella oxytoca, Acinetobacter baumannii, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Burkholderia cepacia complex were isolated. Following hand hygiene procedure, the most effective decontamination for a wide variety of organisms was observed. Conclusion: Separation of dangerous pathogenic bacteria such as S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, and E. coli from healthcare workers may be a great warning sign for these infections in the hospital. Therefore, hand hygiene procedures may be considered an appropriate method to decrease nosocomial infections.

Acinetobacter baumannii, as a nosocomial pathogen has become a worldwide concern in recent years. In the current study, the resistance to tetracyclines and colistin were assessed in the isolates from different provinces of Iran.During the timeline of this study, a number of 270 isolates of A. baumannii were collected from tracheal aspirates, wounds, urine and blood cultures. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline, tigecycline and colistin were evaluated. Tetracycline resistance genes were assessed by PCR. The mean expression level of adeB, adeJ and adeG were assessed using semi quantitative Real-Time PCR. The clonal relationship of the isolates was evaluated by the repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (REP-PCR), International Clonal (IC) Lineage Multiplex PCR and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) (Pasteur scheme) methods.The MIC by microdilution method showed that 87.5, 51.4, 28, 0.74 and 0% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline, tigecycline and colistin respectively. The prevalence of tetracycline resistance genes was 99.2, 99.2, 98, 86.7, 10, 3.33, 0.37, 0% for adeB, adeJ, adeG, tetB, tetA(39), tetA, tetM and tetH in tetracycline-resistant isolates. Moreover, the expression level of adeB, adeJ, adeG genes in tigecycline-nonsusceptible A. baumannii (TNAB) strain was higher compared to the tigecycline-susceptible A. baumannii (TSAB). A broad genomic diversity was revealed, but ST2 was the most prevalent ST. Our results indicated that tetracycline resistance in Iran is mediated by resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) and tetB efflux pumps.

Background and Aim: Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the most important pathogens found in ICUs as it is responsible for nosocomial infection with a high mortality rate and a rising level of resistance to most antibiotics. One of the main mechanisms of resistance is the production of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) genes such as veb, per, tem, and shv. The current study aimed to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern and the frequency of per, tem, veb, and shv genes in A. baumannii strains isolated from Zahedan, Iran. Materials and Methods:The current study was conducted on 150 strains of A. baumannii isolated from different clinical samples from January to September 2018. The antibiotic resistance pattern was determined by the disk diffusion method for 18 antibiotics and the minimum inhibitory concentration for colistin. Later, the bacterial genome was extracted, and PCR detected ESBL genes.Results: Out of the 150 studied isolates, 141 were A. baumannii and only nine isolates were A. nosocomialis. A. baumannii strains were strongly resistant to many selected antibiotics such as CAZ (99.3%), CTX (97.9), PTZ (97.2%), SXT (97.2%), IMI (97.2%), and LEV (96.5%); while this value was low for a few antibiotics including MN (69.5%), DXT (52.5%), SAM (21.3), and TN (16.7). The eb, per, tem, and shv genes were detected in 20 (13.3%), 15 (10%), 23 (15.4%), and 11 (7.3%) isolates, respectively. Conclusion:The isolates were highly resistant to ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, piperacillin-tazobactam, cotrimoxazole, imipenem, and levofloxacin; in addition, the frequency of per, veb, tem, and genes was lower in the current study than those reported in other regions.