Phenotypic and Genotypic Screening of Adhesive Virulence Factors of Acintobacter baumannii isolated from Zanjan Hospitals

Background: Acintobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen associated with multidrug-resistant infections. Antibiotic resistance profiles and biofilm formation are two important properties in the pathogenicity of Acinetobacter baumannii. The aim of this study was to measure the frequency of genes involved in biofilm production and to investigate antibiotic resistance patterns and to find a relationship between them. Methods: In total 63 Acinetobacter baumannii were collected from teaching hospitals of zanjan, Iran during 2014-2016 All isolates was tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by Kiry-Bauer disk diffusion method. Frequency of blaPER-1،bap، bfmS، ptk، pgaB، fimH، csgA، kpsmTII ،csuE،epsA ،ompA genes was measured by PCR method. Results: All 63 isolates encoded csuE gene, while none of isolates had csgA and fimH genes. The results of this study revealed that a high prevalence of biofilm-forming phenotypes among A.baumannii strains obtained from different hospitals. Prevalence of blaPER-1،bap، bfmS، ptk، pgaB, ،kpsmII ،epsA, and ompA was 1.6%, 42.8%, 92.1%, 95.2%, 98.4%, 57.1%, 95.2%, 80.9% respectively. Conclusion: Effective strategies to prevent infections due to A.baumannii that produce biofilms are therefore needed.

Keywords:

Acinetobacter baumannii , PCR , biofilm-forming phenotypes