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

Abstract

Acinetobacter baumannii pigmented strains are not common in clinical settings. In the present work we report an outbreak caused by indigo-pigmented A. baumannii strains isolated in an acute hospital in Argentina from March to September 2012. Pan-PCR assays exposed a unique pattern belonging to the recently described regional CC113B/CC79P 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 as the transposon Tn2006, class 2 integrons, AbaR-type islands, IS125, IS26, strA, strB, florR and the small recombinase ISCR2 associated to the sul2 gene proceed by ISAba1.