GENETIC DIVERSITY AND CLONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF ACINETOBACTER-BAUMANNIISTRAINS ISOLATED IN A NEONATAL WARD - EPIDEMIOLOGIC INVESTIGATION BY ALLOZYME, WHOLE-CELL PROTEIN AND ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANCE ANALYSIS

Sixty-five strains of Acinetobacter baumannii which had been isolated from patients and the indoor environment of a neonatal intensive care unit and, for comparative purposes, isolates from three other wards, w ere examined by means of electrotyping and analysis of whole-cell prot ein and antibiotic resistance patterns. Fourteen different electrotype s were determined. The predominant type, a multiply resistant acinetob acter clone, persisted in the neonatal ward over several months. The r esults underline the usefulness of electrophoretic subtyping, in parti cular by means of allozyme pattern and as a supplement to whole-cell p rotein pattern analysis, in epidemiological investigations into the ro utes of transmission of nosocomial A. baumannii infections.