This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kilic, A.
Right arrow Articles by Tang, Y.-W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kilic, A.
Right arrow Articles by Tang, Y.-W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2008, p. 902-908, Vol. 46, No. 3
0095-1137/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01876-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Acinetobacter septicus sp. nov. Association with a Nosocomial Outbreak of Bacteremia in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit{triangledown}

Abdullah Kilic,1* Haijing Li,3 Alexander Mellmann,5 Ahmet C. Basustaoglu,1 Mustafa Kul,2 Zeynep Senses,1 Hakan Aydogan,1 Charles W. Stratton,3,4 Dag Harmsen,6 and Yi-Wei Tang3,4*

Departments of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology,1 Pediatrics, Gulhane Military Medical Academy and School of Medicine, 06018 Ankara, Turkey,2 Departments of Medicine,3 Pathology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232,4 Institute for Hygiene,5 Department of Periodontology, University Hospital Munster, Munster, Germany6

Received 20 September 2007/ Returned for modification 30 November 2007/ Accepted 17 December 2007

Acinetobacter species other than Acinetobacter baumannii have rarely been reported to be associated with nosocomial outbreaks of bloodstream infections. Within a period of 1 week, seven Acinetobacter-like isolates were recovered from peripheral blood and catheter specimens of five patients at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a tertiary hospital in Turkey. All five patients had placement of central venous catheters and had received total parenteral nutrition before the onset of bacteremia. Two of the five patients died. Medical devices, tap water, aerators, water samples, various surfaces, intravenous fluids, and the hands of health care workers in the NICU were sampled and were culture negative for the bacterium. All seven of the isolates had identical biochemical reactions, antimicrobial susceptibility results, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns, indicating a clonal nosocomial outbreak. A panel of standard biochemical reaction profiles and three phenotypic commercial identification systems failed to identify these isolates. Phenotypically, the isolate differed from Acinetobacter ursingii by its hemolysis on sheep blood agar and its negative citrate utilization. Sequences of the full 16S rRNA gene, which contained at least three different gene copies with polymorphic sequences between nucleotide positions 70 and 206, were determined from the first recovered isolate. The complete 1,529- to 1,531-bp 16S rRNA gene sequences and partial 801-bp rpoB gene sequences had similarities of 99.5% and 97.2%, respectively, to an A. ursingii isolate. The DNA-DNA similarities of the strain against the type strain of A. ursingii were 64.7 and 68.7%, which were lower than the recommended threshold value of 70% for the definition of bacterial species. These data indicate that a novel Acinetobacter organism caused the nosocomial outbreak of bacteremia in the NICU unit. We propose the designation of Acinetobacter septicus sp. nov. for these isolates, with isolate AK001 as the type strain.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address for Abdullah Kilic: Departments of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy and School of Medicine, 06018 Ankara, Turkey. Phone: 90 312 3043412. Fax: 90 312 3043402. E-mail: abkilic{at}gata.edu.tr. Mailing address for Yi-Wei Tang: Molecular Infectious Disease Laboratory, Vanderbilt University Hospital, 4605 TVC, Nashville, TN 37232-5310. Phone: (615) 322-2035. Fax: (615) 343-8420. E-mail: yiwei.tang{at}vanderbilt.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 26 December 2008.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2008, p. 902-908, Vol. 46, No. 3
0095-1137/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01876-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Nemec, A., Musilek, M., Vaneechoute, M., Falsen, E., Dijkshoorn, L., Tang, Y.-W., Stratton, C. W., Mellmann, A., Harmsen, D. (2008). Lack of Evidence for "Acinetobacter septicus" as a Species Different from Acinetobacter ursingii?. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46: 2826-2827 [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»