Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T06:55:16.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nosocomial Respiratory Tract Colonization and Infection with Aminoglycoside-Resistant Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var anitratus: Epidemiologic Characteristics and Clinical Significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

James E. Peacock Jr.*
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine, Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
LuAnne Sorrell
Affiliation:
Hospital Infection Control, Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Frank D. Sottile
Affiliation:
Anesthesia/Critical Care, Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Loraine E. Price
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
William A. Rutala
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
*
Section on Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Wake Forest University Medical Center, 300 South Hawthorne Road, Winstow-Salem, NC 27103

Abstract

During the period July 1983 through December 1984, aminoglycoside-resistant Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var anitratus (ACA) were isolated from 98 patients in a university hospital. Eighty-seven percent of patients (85/98) acquired aminoglycoside-resistant ACA in the intensive care unit (ICU) and 92% (90198) of all initial isolates were from sputum. ICU patients with respiratory colonization/infection with aminoglycoside-resistant ACA were compared with matched ICU controls with other gram-negative rods in sputum. Compared with controls, the duration of ICU stay prior to colonization/infection with aminoglycoside-resistant ACA was significantly longer for cases (14.7 days υ 5.9 days, P = 0.002). Although exposures to devices and procedures were not significantly different for the two groups, cases received respiratory therapy significantly longer than did controls (14.7 days υ 6.6 days, P = 0.006). Prior to isolation of aminoglycoside-resistant ACA in sputum, cases received more cephalosporins than did controls (1.9 υ 1.2, P = 0.018); aminoglycoside usage in the two groups was comparable but cases tended to have received aminoglycoside for longer durations before colonization/infection than had controls (9.0 days υ 6.1 days, P = 0.08). Following sputum isolation of ACA, 6 of 22 cases developed ACA bacteremia compared with bacteremia in 2 of 22 controls. We conclude that factors predisposing to colonization/infection with aminoglycoside-resistant ACA were extended ICU care, prolonged respiratory therapy, and prior therapy with cephalosporins and aminoglycoside. In addition, ACA may be a more common cause of secondary bacteremia than previously appreciated.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Glew, RH, Moellering, RC Jr, Kunz, LJ: Infections with Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (Herellea vaginicola): Clinical and laboratory studies. Medicine 1977;56:7997.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Smith, PW, Massanari, RM: Room humidifiers as the source of Acinetobacter infections.JAMA 1977;237:795797.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Buxton, AE, Anderson, RL, Werdegar, D, et al: Nosocomial respiratory tract infection and colonization with Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Epidemiologic characteristics. Am J Med 1978: 65:507513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Abrutyn, E, Goodhart, CL, Roos, K, et al: Acinetobacter calcoaceticus outbreak associated with peritoneal dialysis. Am J Epidemiol 1978;107:328335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Castle, M, Tenney, JH, Weinstein, MP, et al: Outbreak of a multiply resistant Acinetobacter in a surgical intensive care unit: Epidemiology and control. Heart Lung 1978;7:641644.Google Scholar
6.Retailliau, HF, Hightower, AW, Dixon, RE, et al: Acinetobacter calcoaceticus: A nosocomial pathogen with an unusual seasonal pattern. J Infect Dis 1979;139:371375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Ramphal, R, Kluge, RM: Acinetobacter calcoaceticus variety anitratus: An increasing nosocomial problem. Am J Med Sci 1979; 277:5766.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Cunha, BA, Gracewski, J, Klimek, JJ, et al: A common source outbreak of Acinetobacter pulmonary infections traced to Wright spirometers. Postgrad Med J 1980;56:169172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.O'Connell, CJ, Hamilton, R: Cram-negative rod infections II, Acinetobacter infections in general hospital. NY State J Med 1981;81:750753.Google ScholarPubMed
10.Carlquist, JF, Conti, M, Burke, JP: Progressive resistance in a single strain of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus recovered during a nosocomial outbreak. Am J Infect Control 1982;10:4348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Raz, R, Alroy, G, Sobel, JD: Nosocomial bacteremia due to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Infection 1982; 10:168171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Sherertz, RJ, Sullivan, ML: An outbreak of infections with Acinetobacter ml-coaceticus in burn patients: Contamination of patients' mattresses. J Infect Dis 1985: 151:252258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Berner-Smidt, P, Hansen, L, Knudsen, A, et al: Epidemic spread of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus in a neurosurgical department analyzed by electronic data processing. J Hosp Infect 1985;6:166174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Gervich, DH, Grout, CS: An outbreak of nosocomial Acinetobacter infections from humidifiers. Am J Infect Control 1985;13:210215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Smego, RA Jr: Endemic nosocomial Acinetobacter calcoaceticus bacteremia. Clinical significance, treatment, and prognosis. Arch Intern Med 1985; 145:21742179.Google Scholar
16.Stone, JW, Das, BC: Investigation of an outbreak of infection with Acinetobacter calcoaceticus in a special care baby unit. J Hosp Infect 1986;7:4248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Bergogne-Berezin, E, Joly-Guillou, ML: An underestimated nosocomial pathogen, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. J Antimicrob Chemother 1985; 16:535538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Thompson, RL: Surveillance and reporting of nosocomial infections. in Wenzel, RP (ed): Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infections. Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins, 1987, pp 7082.Google Scholar
19.Rubin, SJ, Granato, PA, Wasilauskas, BL: Glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative bacteria, in Lennette, EH, Balows, A, Hausler, WJ Jr, et al (eds): Manual of Clinical Microbiology, ed 4. Washington, American Society for Microbiology. 1985, pp 330349.Google Scholar
20.Ristuccia, PA, Cunha, HA: Acinetobacter. Infect Control 1983;4:226229.Google ScholarPubMed
21.Horan, TC, White, JW, Jarvis, WR, et al: Nosocomial infection surveillance, 1984. MMWR 1986; 35(No 1SS):17SS29SS.Google ScholarPubMed
22.Lyons, RW: Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Clin Microbiol Newsl 1983;5:8789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Garner, JS, Simmons, BP: Isolation precautions, in Bennett, JV, Brachman, PS (eds): Hospital Infections, ed 2. Boston, Little, Brown and Co, 1986, pp 143150.Google Scholar
24.French, GL, Casewell, MW: Controlling the spread of Acinetobacter infection. Br Med J 1980; 281:388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Barry, MA, Craven, DE, Goularte, TA, et al: Serratia marcescens contamination of antiseptic soap containing triclosan: Implications for nosocomial infection. Infect Control 1984: 5:427430.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26.Maki, DC, Hecht, J: Antiseptic-containing handwashing agents reduce nosocomial infections-A prospective study. Abstracts of the 22nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Miami Beach, 1982. Abstract #699.Google Scholar
27.Dowding, JE: Novel aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme from a clinical isolate of Acinetobacter. J Gen Microbiol 1979;110:239241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28.Murray, BE, Moellering, KC Jr: Evidence of plasmid-mediated production of aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes not previously described in Acinetobacter. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1980;17:3036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Morohoshi, T, Saito, T: Beta-larramasr and beta-lactam antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter anitratus (syn A calcoaceticus). J Antibiot 1977;30:969973CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Devaud, M, Kayser, FH, Bachi, B: Transposon-mediated multiple antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter strains. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1982;22:323329.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.Goldstein, FW, Labigne-Roussel, A, Gerbaud, G, et al: Transferable plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter. Plasmid 1983: 10:138147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32.Krcmery, V, Antal, M, Langsadl, L, et al: Transferable amikacin resistance in Pseudomonas maltophilia and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Infection 1985:13:8990.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33.Sanders, CC, Sanders, WE Jr, Goering, RV, et al: Selection of multiple antibiotic resistance by quinolones, β-lactams, and aminoglycosides with special reference to cross-resistance between unrelated drug classes. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1984: 26:797801.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34.Garcia, I, Fainstein, V, LeBlanc, B, et al: In vitro activities of new β-lactam antibiotics against Acinetobacter spp. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1983;24:297299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.Mayer, KH, Zinner, SH: Bacterial pathogens of increasing significance in hospital-acquired infections. Rev Infect Dis 1985; 7(suppl 3):S371S379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed