Acinetobacter baylyi as a Pathogen for Opportunistic Infection

Abstract

There are no previous reports of human infection due to Acinetobacter baylyi. In this study, we report on six patients with bacteremia due to A. baylyi, based on analysis of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer and the 16S rRNA gene. All six patients had multiple underlying diseases. The infection was nosocomially acquired in five patients. The six clinical isolates had similar ribopatterns, suggesting a clonal relationship. Compared to the reference strain, the clinical isolates were more resistant to antimicrobial agents, especially beta-lactam antibiotics. In three of the isolates, they may have undetermined plasmid mediated class C type beta-lactamases because of the positive results in a double-disk synergy test using 3-aminophenylboronic acid. Two of the clinical isolates retained a level of natural transformability similar to that of the reference strain. None of the patients died, although only three of them received appropriate antimicrobial therapy. This study demonstrates that A. baylyi is a potential human pathogen that can cause nosocomial infection in immunocompromised patients.

The Ecology, Biology and Pathogenesis of Acinetobacter spp.: An Overview

“…Recently, Acinetobacter spp. have demonstrated a hydrocarbon-degrading capability (74,75,122), that is of interest for soil bioremediation and a specific strain Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 has shown remarkable competence for natural transformation irrespective of DNA source, thus making it a potentially important tool for biotechnology (2,19,111,112). Possible suggested applications of Acinetobacter spp.…”

“…The organisms have also been isolated from freshwater ecosystems; raw sewage and wastewater treatment plants (10) and activated sludge (16,83,85). A. baylyi, A. bouvetii, A. grimontii, A. tjernbergiae, A. towneri, and A. tandoii are commonly found in natural environments but occasionally isolated in activated sludge and have not been found associated with humans (19,85). They are able to store phosphate as polyphosphates and may have potential applications in the biological removal of phosphates (2).…”

“…The method was reported to be so efficient that 13 different species of Acinetobacter were discriminated in less than 9 h with 90% accuracy and precision (73). The use of DNA-DNA hybridization and sequence analysis (19,49) is considered the gold standard, but the method is laborintensive and impractical in most clinical laboratories.…”

Exploring the diversity of Acinetobacter populations in river water with genus-specific primers and probes

“…baylyi, A. bouvetii, A. grimontii, A. towneri and A. tandoii are commonly found in natural environments but occasionally isolated in activated sludge (Chen et al, 2008). Acinetobacter spp.…”

Isolation, Characterization and Identification of Phosphate- and Potassium- Solubilizing Bacteria from Weathered Materials of Granite Rock Mountain, That Son, an Giang Province, Vietnam

“…However the strains of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus is a species of bacterium the genus Acinetobacter and part of the human body normal flora. It can be a pathogen for opportunistic infection on patients which have multiple underlying diseases [39].…”