Acinetobacte Baumannii Endemic spread in hospitalized patients of Brazil

The major rising issue of society is the hospital-associated infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii complex (A. baumannii). These thriving conditions often lead to a lengthy hospital stay and increased hospital expenses in Brazil. The study published in the Journal of Infection in Developing Countries analyzed the factors, which caused the widespread infection in various hospitals.

Débora Fiorentin Vandresen, the lead author spoke, “the effectiveness of A. baumannii infection treatment has reduced over a period due to resistance against the carbapenem medication. These bacteria’s have shown to easily colonize over the invasive device and in ongoing antimicrobials treatment that increases the mortality and cause the failure of the treatment.”

In recent times, the research team reported that the current strain of this bacteria has gained resistance against the vast majority of antimicrobial classes, which include 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins and carbapenems, which is considered as a standard treatment for A. baumannii infection.

The research team collected cases from the period 2017 to 2019, each with their demographics, microbiological and clinical details to correlate the influence of these variables. All the enrolled cases showed a positive culture indicating a significant resistance against the more than three classes of antibiotics. Moreover, they discovered that the prolonged stay at the hospitals with severe infection was mainly correlated with this particular bacteria and its resistance against the treatment.

Many of the patients presented with common symptoms such as pneumonia. The cases were severe enough for the patient to use a mechanical ventilator for breathing support. The author revealed, “72.4%  of A. baumannii cases diagnosed in the Brazil hospitals indicated one in four of positive cultures that meant to be observed in other hospitals.”

Thus, the team concluded that A. baumannii endemic is a major source for infection spread in other hospital setups leading to increase cases of pneumonia and multidrug resistance.