ACINETOBACTER-BAUMANNII OUTBREAK ISOLATES CHARACTERIZED BY 3 TYPING METHODS

Forty-two strains of Acinetobacter baumannii we re isolated from 15 pa tients hospitalized in a French intensive care unit. An epidemiologica l study based on the typing of these iso rates was carried out using b iotyping, antibiotyping, and ribotyping to recognize the transmission of multiresistant strains by transfer of a patient from one hospital t o another. Fifteen strains from the outbreak (1 strain for each patien t), five Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated before the outbreak in Bellevue Hospital (St. Etienne), and five strains isolated in Cochi n Hospital (Paris) were included. The three methods gave a good correl ation: the epidemic strains had the same antibiotic resistance pattern , the same biotype, and the same ribotypes obtained with three differe nt endonucleases.