Search
Close
Search
Advanced Search
Search Menu
AI Discovery Assistant

Extract

Sir,

Acinetobacter radioresistens, although sometimes isolated on the skin of healthy humans, rarely causes serious illness.1,2 In a recent study, A. radioresistens was isolated from blood and urine cultures, but made up <1% of the total Acinetobacter spp. isolated, while other studies found a higher incidence of A. radioresistens when only looking at Acinetobacter bloodstream isolates, where bacteraemia is most often associated with indwelling devices.3–5 Compelling evidence suggests that the origin of OXA-23, the most commonly acquired oxacillinase in Acinetobacter baumannii, is A. radioresistens, to which this enzyme is intrinsic.6 In A. baumannii, blaOXA-23 mediates carbapenem resistance when overexpressed and this is caused by the insertion element ISAba1, which is located upstream where it provides a strong promoter; however, this has not been found in A. radioresistens, so the mechanism of blaOXA-23 mobilization is still not fully understood. Despite possessing OXA-23, carbapenem resistance is rarely described in A. radioresistens and has only been reported when the additional acquired carbapenemases IMP-1 and OXA-58 were present.7,8

Issue Section:
Research Letters
You do not currently have access to this article.
Download all slides