Acinetobacter baylyi as a pathogen for opportunistic infection

There are no previous reports of human infection due to Acinetobacter baylyi. In this study, we report on six patients with bacteremia due to A. baylyi, based on analysis of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer and the 16S rRNA gene. All six patients had multiple underlying diseases. The infection was nosocomially acquired in five patients. The six clinical isolates had similar ribopatterns, suggesting a clonal relationship. Compared to the reference strain, the clinical isolates were more resistant to antimicrobial agents, especially beta-lactam antibiotics. In three of the isolates, they may have undetermined plasmid mediated class C type beta-lactamases because of the positive results in a double-disk synergy test using 3-aminophenylboronic acid. Two of the clinical isolates retained a level of natural transformability similar to that of the reference strain. None of the patients died, although only three of them received appropriate antimicrobial therapy. This study demonstrates that A. baylyi is a potential human pathogen that can cause nosocomial infection in immunocompromised patients.