Detection of Tigecycline Resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates from Intensive Care Unit Patients

Abstract

Background and Objective: Acinetobacter baumannii is a nosocomial pathogen that is becoming more
resistant to antibiotics nowadays. The study aims to isolate Acinetobacter baumannii from different clinical
specimens of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and to determine the antimicrobial activity of tigecycline
against these isolates.
Methods: Adescriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Microbiology laboratory, at Lahore General
Hospital. The Kirby Bauer disc diffusion assay was used to test Acinetobacter baumannii's susceptibility to
antibiotics, and the results were reported in compliance with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute
(CLSI 2023). The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy's (BSAC 2021) standards were followed
while reporting tigecycline's activity.
Results: A total of 195 isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii were recovered from patients admitted to the
Lahore General Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. 9% of them were resistance to tigecycline.
Conclusion: One of the common nosocomial pathogen among the most frequently isolated organism from
ICU patients is Acinetobacter baumannii. It has been concluded that this new drug has developed resistance.
This is an alarming situation which calls for precautions to be taken against misuse and overuse of antibiotics.
Key Words: Acinetobacter baumannii, Tigecycline, Intensive Care Unit, antimicrobial resistance