Acinetobacter spp. have emerged as important nosocomial and multidrug-resistant pathogens in the last decade. A. calcoaceticus, A. baumannii, Acinetobacter genospecies 3, and Acinetobacter genospecies 13TU are genetically closely related and are referred to as the A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex (ACB complex). Distinct Acinetobacter spp. may be associated with differences in antimicrobial susceptibility, so it is important to identify Acinetobacter spp. at the species level. We developed a microsphere-based array that combines an allele-specific primer extension assay and microsphere hybridization for the identification of Acinetobacter spp. This assay can discriminate the 13 different Acinetobacter spp. in less than 8.5 h, and it has high specificity without causing cross-reactivity with 14 other common nosocomial bacterial species. The sensitivity of this assay was 100 A. baumannii cells per ml of blood, and it could discriminate multiple species in various mixture ratios. The developed assay could differentiate clinical Acinetobacter spp. isolates with a 90% identification rate. The antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that A. baumannii isolates were resistant to most antimicrobial agents other than imipenem, while the genospecies 3 and 13TU isolates were more susceptible to most antimicrobial agents, especially ciprofloxacin and ampicillinsulbactam. These results supported the idea that this assay possibly could be applied to clinical samples and provide accurate species identification, which might be helpful for clinicians when they are treating infections caused by Acinetobacter spp.

No abstract

Multidrug-resistant (MDR)Acinetobacter

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a significant nosocomial pathogen worldwide. The increasing trend of carbapenem and fluoroquinolone resistance in A. baumannii severely limits the usage of therapeutic antimicrobial agents. Here we report the genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant A. baumannii strain, TCDC-AB0715, harboring both bla OXA-23 and bla OXA-66 .Among the 135 isolates collected from Acinetobacter baumannii complex bacteremia patients during January 2007 and July 2009, the clinical A. baumannii (genospecies 2) strain TCDC-AB0715 was one of the isolates exhibiting high resistance to carbapenems (e.g., imipenem and meropenem MICs of Ͼ16 mg/liter), fluoroquinolones (e.g., ciprofloxacin, Ͼ4 mg/ liter, and levofloxacin, Ͼ8 mg/liter), and cephalosporins (ceftriaxone, Ͼ64 mg/liter, and cefepime, 32 mg/liter) (2, 7, 8). Additionally, this strain had two carbapenemase genes, bla OXA-23 and bla , which was a difference from other clinical isolates. TCDC-AB0715 belonged to multilocus sequence type (MLST) ST2, a molecular type previously reported in Europe (5).The genome of TCDC-AB0715 was sequenced using the Illumina/Solexa sequencing platform (720ϫ coverage rate), and the automated DNA sequencing chromatograms were analyzed by the CLC bio software package. In particular, the order of 141 contigs was predicted by comparison with the chromosome sequences of A. baumannii ACICU (GenBank accession number CP000863) (5) and AB0057 (accession no. CP001182) (1) and then confirmed by optical mapping (10) and PCR. The length of the draft sequence of the TCDC-AB0715 circular chromosome is 4,130,792 bp more than 80 kb larger than those of seven other completely sequenced A. baumannii isolates, AB0057 (4

Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection is the second major cause of sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. Development of resistance to multiple classes of antimicrobials in N. gonorrhoeae has compromised treatment and disease control. Herein, we report the availability of the draft genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae isolate, TCDC-NG08107, which spread in groups of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Taiwan.