Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Acinetobacter spp. are important clinical pathogens and are considered as one of the major causes of healthcare-associated pneumonia, bacteremia, UTI and wound infections. Unfortunately, the treatment of Acinetobacter infections is becoming more difficult because nosocomial isolates are increasingly resistant to commonly used antimicrobial agents.The potential ability of Acinetobacter to form biofilm might explain its outstanding antibiotic resistance, survival properties and increased virulence. The aim of the present study was to detect the biofilm formation by Acinetobacter isolates and their antibiotic resistance pattern. In addition, it attempted to investigate the impact of biofilm formation on antibiotic resistance.A total of 50 isolates of Acinetobacter, recovered from patients admitted to ICUs, were collected from laboratories of Kasr Al-Ainy University hospitals. The isolates were recovered from different clinical samples, then subcultured on MacConkey{u2019}s medium and identified by conventional microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by Kirby- Bauer disk diffusion method and for polymyxin, broth microdilution method was used.The ability of Acinetobacter spp. to produce biofilm was determined using tissue culture plate method. Acinetobacter isolates were most frequently recovered from respiratory samples (54%)

Issued also as CD