High HIV infection prevalence in a group of men who have sex with men

Raquel Maria Cardoso Torres, Marly Marques da Cruz, André Reynaldo Santos Périssé, Denise Ribeiro Franqueira Pires

To evaluate, by phenotypic and genotypic parameters, the presence of virulence and resistance factors in clinical Acinetobacter baumannii strains and verify the correlation between these variables. Observational study conducted in an Universitary Hospital in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The confirmation of A. baumannii-calcoaceticus complex was performed by blaOXA51 detection, through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) multiplex, as well as to investigate the presence of other oxacillinases (blaOXA23, 24, 58). Different PCR were performed for blaOXA143, blaVIM-1, csuE, ompA and for the insertion element ISAba1 research. The antimicrobial and metalobetalactamases (MβL) expression were evaluated by Etest(®) method. Genetic diversity among the strains was done by ERIC-PCR. Biofilm evaluation was performed on polystyrene microplate and classified into four categories according to the strains optical density average. 98.4% (61/62) of strains were resistant to meropenem, 71% (44/62) to ceftazidime and 61.3% (38/62) to ampicillin-sulbactam. In contrast, 98.4% were sensitive to polymyxin B, 67.7% to gentamicin and 48.4% to tigecycline. MβL production was detected in 95.2% of strains. The blaOXA51 gene was detected in all tested strains; blaVIM-1 in 83.9% and ISAba1 in 90.3%. While, the csuE and ompA gene were present in 43.5% and 53.2% strains, respectively. There was a possible correlation between strains resistant to gentamicin and those positive for ompA gene. As well as the csuE gene correlated positively with ISAba1. These results reinforce the clinical relevance of nosocomial infection by A. baumannii and provide data on the molecular epidemiology and expression of resistance genes and virulence.