Aranzamendi, MaitaneXanthopoulou, KyriakiSánchez-Urtaza, SandraBurgwinkel, TessaArazo Del Pino, RocíoLucaßen, KaiPerez-Vazquez, MariaOteo-Iglesias, JesusSota, MercedesMarimón, José MaríaSeifert, HaraldHiggins, Paul GGallego, Lucía2024-03-202024-03-202024-02-16Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Feb 16;25(4):2333.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/19013Infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii are a global threat causing a high number of fatal infections. This microorganism can also easily acquire antibiotic resistance determinants, making the treatment of infections a big challenge, and has the ability to persist in the hospital environment under a wide range of conditions. The objective of this work was to study the molecular epidemiology and genetic characteristics of two blaOXA24/40Acinetobacter baumannii outbreaks (2009 and 2020-21) at a tertiary hospital in Northern Spain. Thirty-six isolates were investigated and genotypically screened by Whole Genome Sequencing to analyse the resistome and virulome. Isolates were resistant to carbapenems, aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones. Multi-Locus Sequence Typing analysis identified that Outbreak 1 was mainly produced by isolates belonging to ST3Pas/ST106Oxf (IC3) containing blaOXA24/40, blaOXA71 and blaADC119. Outbreak 2 isolates were exclusively ST2Pas/ST801Oxf (IC2) blaOXA24/40, blaOXA66 and blaADC30, the same genotype seen in two isolates from 2009. Virulome analysis showed that IC2 isolates contained genes for capsular polysaccharide KL32 and lipooligosacharide OCL5. A 8.9 Kb plasmid encoding the blaOXA24/40 gene was common in all isolates. The persistance over time of a virulent IC2 clone highlights the need of active surveillance to control its spread.engVoRhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Acinetobacter baumanniiCarbapenem resistanceHospital outbreaksSequencingPlasmidPersistenceBacterial ProteinsAcinetobacter baumanniiMultilocus Sequence TypingTertiary Care CentersSpainMicrobial Sensitivity TestsAnti-Bacterial AgentsGenomicsbeta-LactamasesAtribución 4.0 Internacional38397011254233310.3390/ijms250423331422-0067International journal of molecular sciencesopen access