Division of Infectious Diseases, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Institutes of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Med Microbiol. 2014 Sep;63(Pt 9):1154-1159. doi: 10.1099/jmm.0.071712-0. Epub 2014 Jun 25.
Acinetobacter baumannii, Acinetobacter nosocomialis and Acinetobacter pittii are clinically relevant members of the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-A. baumannii (Acb) complex and important nosocomial pathogens. These three species are genetically closely related and phenotypically similar; however, they differ in their epidemiology, antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity. In this study, we investigated the use of a multiplex PCR-based assay designed to detect internal fragments of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic region and the gyrB and recA genes. The assay was capable of differentiating A. baumannii, A. nosocomialis and A. pittii in a reliable manner. In 23 different reference strains and 89 clinical isolates of Acinetobacter species, the assay accurately identified clinically relevant Acb complex species except those 'between 1 and 3' or 'close to 13TU'. None of the non-Acb complex species was misidentified. In an analysis of 1034 positive blood cultures, the assay had a sensitivity of 92.4 % and specificity of 98.2 % for Acb complex identification. Our results show that a single multiplex PCR assay can reliably differentiate clinically relevant Acb complex species. Thus, this method may be used to better understand the clinical differences between infections caused by these species.
鲍曼不动杆菌、医院不动杆菌和皮特不动杆菌是鲍曼不动杆菌-醋酸钙不动杆菌复合体（Acb）中与临床相关的成员，也是重要的医院获得性病原体。这三个物种在遗传上密切相关，表型上相似；然而，它们在流行病学、抗生素耐药性和致病性方面存在差异。在本研究中，我们研究了使用基于多重 PCR 的检测方法，该方法旨在检测 16S-23S rRNA 基因间隔区和 gyrB 和 recA 基因的内部片段。该检测方法能够可靠地区分鲍曼不动杆菌、医院不动杆菌和皮特不动杆菌。在 23 种不同的参考菌株和 89 株临床不动杆菌属分离株中，该检测方法准确地鉴定了临床相关的 Acb 复合体种，除了那些“1 到 3”或“接近 13TU”的种。非 Acb 复合体种均未被误识别。在对 1034 份阳性血培养物的分析中，该检测方法对 Acb 复合体鉴定的敏感性为 92.4%，特异性为 98.2%。我们的结果表明，单次多重 PCR 检测方法可以可靠地区分临床相关的 Acb 复合体种。因此，该方法可用于更好地理解这些物种引起的感染之间的临床差异。
