Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 14, Number 1—January 2008
Letter

Acinetobacter spp. in Gunshot Injuries

On This Page
Tables
Article Metrics
10
citations of this article
EID Journal Metrics on Scopus

Cite This Article

To the Editor: Challenges posed by Acinetobacter spp. result from multidrug resistance, nosocomial spread, and hospital-wide outbreaks (13). We evaluated Acinetobacter spp. infections from gunshot injuries received during the April 2006 East Timor conflict (for a description of these events and further reading, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_east_timorese_crisis).

We reviewed records of 15 injured East Timorese police officers. Median age was 29 years (range 25–45 years); 13 were male. Typical injuries were from multiple high-velocity gunshots and shrapnel. All patients had undergone surgery for stabilization and wound debridement before evacuation to the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) in Australia; most had likely received antimicrobial drugs including ampicillin, gentamicin, metronidazole, and ceftriaxone. They arrived at RDH a median of 3 days after injury (range 2–12 days).

The patients were separated from other hospital inpatients on arrival; they were managed as a cohort, they had dedicated nursing staff, and barrier contact precautions were practiced. However, the patients were not routinely screened for colonization with microbiologic organisms. Additional surgical management, including further wound debridement, was performed on 12 of the 15 patients (11 within 48 hours of arrival at RDH); intraoperative samples of bone, soft tissue, and wounds were submitted for culture.

From 13 patients (including all 11 with gunshot wounds), 19 Acinetobacter spp. isolates were recovered. Acinetobacter spp. was cultured from deep wound tissue obtained during surgery from 9 patients. Substantial antimicrobial drug resistance was demonstrated by automated testing (Vitek 2, bioMérieux, Marcy l’Etoile, France) (Table). All 19 Acinetobacter spp. isolates were classified as multidrug resistant (resistant to >3 drug classes) (4). Isolates from 10 of the 13 culture-positive patients (12 of 19 isolates) were resistant to all tested drugs except meropenem and amikacin. Susceptibility testing for tigecycline and tetracycline was not performed. No isolate was metallo-β-lactamase positive by phenotypic analysis according to tablet disk diffusion method using imipenem and imipenem plus EDTA Neo-Sensitabs (Rosco Diagnostica, Taastrup, Denmark). Isolation of Acinetobacter spp. (15 isolates) far exceeded that of other organisms: Stenotrophomonas (5 isolates); Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3 isolates); Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus spp. (2 isolates each); and Pseudomonas putida, Enterobacter cloacae, Staphylococcus hemolyticus, and Mycoplasma hominis (1 isolate each).

On the basis of clinical assessment by the treating surgeon and infectious diseases physician, 11 patients were treated for Acinetobacter spp. infection. Patients 1–5 had comminuted compound fractures associated with intraoperative deep wound tissue that was culture positive for Acinetobacter spp. and were treated for osteomyelitis; patients 6–11 were treated for wound infections; patients 6–8 had intraoperative deep wound tissue culture positive for Acinetobacter spp.; patients 9–10 had superficial wound swabs that were culture positive; and patient 11 had a positive culture from a nonsurgical site. Of these 11 patients, 4 had fever >38°C on the day of admission to RDH (2 of whom had a leukocyte count >20,000/μL), and another 2 had visible pus, necrotic tissue, or both. The surgical approach to these patients involved delayed wound closure; fracture fixation; vacuum dressings; and skin, bone, and nerve grafts. Choice and duration of antimicrobial drug therapy was guided by susceptibility testing and experience (4). Presumed osteomyelitis caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter spp. was treated with meropenem in combination with amikacin for at least 2 weeks, followed by another 2 weeks of meropenem monotherapy. Wound infections were similarly treated with combination therapy initially, but amikacin was stopped earlier. No aminoglycoside toxicity was observed. Treatment was stopped at 4 weeks if no signs of infection were present (healed wound plus apyrexia and a C-reactive protein level <20 mg/L). Patient 12 was colonized with MDR Acinetobacter spp. and was treated for aspiration pneumonia; patient 13 had MDR Acinetobacter spp. colonization of a central venous catheter.

Follow-up after completion of therapy ranged from 4 to 23 weeks. No patients had recurrence of infection or isolation of Acinetobacter spp. Defining osteomyelitis and wound infection caused by Acinetobacter spp. was problematic for clinicians (46), and some assumed infections may have represented colonization. Because treatment for MDR Acinetobacter spp. in this setting can be protracted and toxic (e.g., from aminoglycosides), our review highlights the potential benefits of applying prospectively documented criteria such as abnormal bone histologic findings for osteomyelitis and a workable definition of deep tissue infection to better guide treatment decisions.

RDH had not experienced outbreaks of healthcare-associated infection or colonization with MDR Acinetobacter spp. before or after (as of January 1, 2007) the 2006 East Timor conflict, except for positive isolates from 5 patients evacuated from the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005. Because all but 1 isolate were recovered within 48 hours of admission, primary inoculation of Acinetobacter spp. into wounds is assumed to have occurred either at the time of injury (from environmental sources or preexisting skin colonization), from nosocomial transmission in East Timor (before transfer to RDH), or during evacuation to RDH. Environmental and patient-based screening at sites of primary care may help resolve the uncertainty of which source is most likely.

Top

Acknowledgment

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Gary Lum, Alison Ratcliff, Hog Mei Khor, Claire Italiano, Paul Southwell, and Patrick Bade in the preparation of this article.

Top

James W.T. Elston*, Ciaran L. Bannan†, Desmond T. Chih†, and Craig S. Boutlis‡Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: *Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham, East Yorkshire, United Kingdom; †Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; ‡Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia;

Top

References

  1. Fournier  PE, Richet  H. The epidemiology and control of Acinetobacter baumannii in health care facilities. Clin Infect Dis. 2006;42:6929. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Jones  A, Morgan  D, Walsh  A, Turton  J, Livermore  D, Pitt  T, Importation of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter spp. infections with casualties from Iraq. Lancet Infect Dis. 2006;6:3178. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Joly-Guillou  ML. Clinical impact and pathogenicity of Acinetobacter. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2005;11:86873. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Davis  KA, Moran  KA, McAllister  CK, Gray  PJ. Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter extremity infections in soldiers. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:121824.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Martin  RW, Martin  DL, Levy  CS. Acinetobacter osteomyelitis from a hamster bite. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1988;7:3645. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. Volpin  G, Krivoy  N, Stein  H. Acinetobacter sp. osteomyelitis of the femur: a late sequel of unrecognized foreign body implantation. Injury. 1993;24:3456. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Top

Table

Top

Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid1401.070878

Related Links

Top

Table of Contents – Volume 14, Number 1—January 2008

EID Search Options
presentation_01 Advanced Article Search – Search articles by author and/or keyword.
presentation_01 Articles by Country Search – Search articles by the topic country.
presentation_01 Article Type Search – Search articles by article type and issue.

Top

Comments

Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:

Craig S. Boutlis, c/o Perioperative Clinics, Level 1, Block C, The Wollongong Hospital, LMB 8808, Southcoast Mail Centre, New South Wales 2521, Australia:

Send To

10000 character(s) remaining.

Top

Page created: July 08, 2010
Page updated: July 08, 2010
Page reviewed: July 08, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external