Whole-Genome Sequencing of ST2 <i>A. baumannii</i> Causing Bloodstream Infections in COVID-19 Patients

oleh: Sabrina Cherubini, Mariagrazia Perilli, Bernardetta Segatore, Paolo Fazii, Giustino Parruti, Antonella Frattari, Gianfranco Amicosante, Alessandra Piccirilli

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-07-01

Deskripsi

A total of 43 <i>A. baumannii</i> strains, isolated from 43 patients affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and by bacterial sepsis, were analyzed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing. All strains were resistant to almost three different classes of antibiotics, including carbapenems and colistin. The whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of eight selected <i>A. baumannii</i> isolates showed the presence of different insertion sequences (ISs), such as IS<i>Aba13</i>, IS<i>Aba26</i>, IS<i>26</i>, IS<i>Vsa3</i>, IS<i>Ec29</i>, IS<i>6100</i> and IS<i>17,</i> giving to <i>A. baumannii</i> a high ability to capture and mobilize antibiotic resistance genes. Resistance to carbapenems is mainly mediated by the presence of OXA-23, OXA-66 and OXA-82 oxacillinases belonging to OXA-51-like enzymes. The presence of AmpC cephalosporinase, ADC-25, was identified in all <i>A. baumannii</i>. The pathogenicity of <i>A. baumannii</i> was exacerbated by the presence of several virulence factors. The multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) analysis showed that all strains belong to sequence type 2 (ST) international clone.