Resistant A. baumannii rose in children from 1999 to 2012

(HealthDay)—Between 1999 and 2012, Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) antibiotic resistance increased in children, though there was a decreasing trend after 2008, according to a study published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Latania K. Logan, M.D., from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues used antimicrobial susceptibility data from The Surveillance Network to phenotypically identify antibiotic resistance in A. baumannii isolates in children aged 1 to 17 years between January 1999 and July 2012. Overall, 6,246 pediatric A. baumannii isolates were identified.

The researchers found that the crude proportion of cephalosporin-resistant (CephR) A. baumannii increased from 13.2 percent in 1999 to 23.4 percent in 2012, with a peak of 32.5 percent in 2008. Similarly, the proportion of carbapenem(CR)-resistant A. baumannii increased from 0.6 percent in 1999 to 6.1 percent in 2012, peaking at 12.7 percent in 2008. From 1999 to 2012, the proportion of CephR- and CR-resistant A. baumannii increased each year by 3 and 8 percent, respectively (CephR odds ratio [OR], 1.03; CR OR, 1.08). After 2008 there was a significant decreasing trend (CephR OR, 0.78; CR OR, 0.73), although resistance remained higher than the 1999 baseline.

"There is a need for ongoing surveillance of A. baumannii infections and continued assessment of effective prevention strategies in vulnerable populations," the authors write.

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