Carbapenem resistance mediated by beta-lactamases in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii in Spain.

Four patients colonized/infected with carbapenem-resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii are described. The first patient had a decubitus ulcer infection and had been on intravenous imipenem for 50 days. Two other patients, from whom Acinetobacter baumannii was isolated from urine, were hospitalized in the same ward as the first patient. The fourth patient had been mechanically ventilated in the intensive care unit for 4 month and had nosocomial pneumonia. He had been on intravenous meropenem for 1 month. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of imipenem (128 mg/l) and meropenem (> 128 mg/l) were the same for the isolates from the first three patients, and all of these isolates had the same repetitive extragenic palindromic polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) pattern. The MICs of carbapenems were lower for patient 4's isolate, which also had a different rep-PCR pattern. Beta-lactamases that hydrolyzed imipenem were detected in all four isolates; isoelectric points were 8.6-7.7 in the first three isolates and 6.8-7 in the fourth isolate.