Outbreak of extensively drug-resistant acinetobacter baumannii indigo-pigmented strains

Abstract

Acinetobacter baumannii pigmented strains are not common in clinical settings. Here, we report an outbreak caused by indigopigmented A. baumannii strains isolated in an acute care hospital in Argentina from March to September 2012. Pan-PCR assays exposed a unique pattern belonging to the recently described regional CC113B/CC79P clonal complex that confirms the relevant relationships among the indigo-pigmented A. baumannii strains. All of them were extensively drug resistant and harbored different genetic elements associated with horizontal genetic transfer, such as the transposon Tn2006, class 2 integrons, AbaR-type islands, IS125, IS26, strA, strB, florR, and the small recombinase ISCR2 associated with the sul2 gene preceded by ISAba1. Copyright © 2013, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.