The Epidemiology of Multidrug-Resistant<i>Acinetobacter Baumannii</i>Does the Community Represent a Reservoir?

Abstract

Acinetobacter isolates from the community, characterized by a large variety of unrelated strains (83.3%), were distinct from the hospital isolates, of which 58.3% were closely related. The absence of multidrug-resistant strains in the community compared with 36.8% prevalence among hospital isolates suggests that the reservoir for epidemic strains resides in the hospital environment itself. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the community as a potential reservoir for hospital strains of A. baumannii.