Title : Genomic study of various virulence factors of acinetobacter baumannii isolated from clinical specimens in patients with VAP and Bloodstream infection

Abstract:

Acinetobacter baumannii has evolved over years as a predominant nosocomial pathogen in ICUs especially associated with VAPs and subsequent blood stream Infections. In the present work we have tried to observe genetic make-up of A.baumannii isolates for virulence factors and their association with patient comorbidities, treatment outcomes. A total 44 isolates of A.baumannii isolated from Blood and respiratory specimens of patients on mechanical ventilator are included in a study. All isolates are confirmed by Vitek2 and MALDI TOF and WGS analysis carried out for identification of virulence genes. The most common virulence genes found in 44 isolates of A.baumannii were ompA (95%) and LPS O antigen(73 %) related to adherence, adeF (98%), adeG (100%) and adeH (98%) (AdeFGH efflux pump related VF genes) and pgaA, B, C and D (98%) related to biofilm formation, plc(100%), plcD (98%) related to enzyme and immune invasion related capsular gene (100%) and lpsB, lpsA, lpxB,lpxD and lpxM found in all isolates respectively. This study is among the few to investigate various virulence factors (VF) using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in India. These findings have improved our understanding of the various pathogenic mechanisms underlying A. baumannii antimicrobial resistance

Biography:

Dr. Anant Marathe studied at Baroda Medical College of M.S.University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. He did his M.Sc. in the 1983, Worked as consultant Microbiologist for several years. Completed Ph.D. from Baroda medical college in Medical Microbiology in the year 2006. He worked with different medical colleges and currently he is working as Professor in department of Microbiology with Parul Institute of medical sciences and Research of Parul University. He is a post doctoral contributing member of ASM (American Society for Microbiology). He is Reviewer for BMJ case reports and Indian Journal Orthopedic and a member of Editorial Board in IP. Journal of Medical Microbiology and Tropical Diseases. He has publishes over 15 papers in national as well as International Journals.