Molecular Identification of Virulence Factors and Genotyping of Acinetobacter baumannii Isolated from Clinical Samples by ERIC-PCR

Abstract

An opportunistic bacterium called Acinetobacter baumannii has significantly increased the frequency of infections in recent years. With only a limited number of “common” virulence factors, it is infections have spread rapidly through hospitals across the globe. The aim of the study a total of 150 samples were collected from various clinical sources from different age groups and gender patients in Ghazi AL Hariri Hospital and Baghdad Teaching laboratories in Medical City in Baghdad /Iraq during the period from December 2021 to March 2022. Bacterial isolates were identified and the Identification was confirmed by using Vitek-2 system. The result revealed that only (33.3%) isolates were given identical morphological belong to A. baumannii isolates. In all fifty clinical isolates of A. baumannii, a biofilm production profile was completed. The results showed that in 40 (80.0%) of the tested isolates strong biofilm was detected, while 10 (20.0%) of them were able to form moderate biofilms with an OD of 630 nm and mean ELISA reader values were between (0.1 and 0. 2). According to biofilm production tests, thirty bacterial isolates were selected, which are found to be strong biofilm production.  The thirty selected isolates were introduced to molecular assay. The results revealed that all selected isolates (100%) have virulence genes (CsuE1 and OmpA genes). Depending on the thirty isolates, the ERIC-PCR banding patterns have indicated 2 to 6 bands with a total similarity level of about (74.1%). It was concluded.