Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2018; 20(3):244-248
To study level and structure of microbial colonization in cancer patients before admission to a surgery department using molecular methods.
The presence of DNA of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillinresistant coagulase-negative staphylococci, Candida albicans/C. glabrata/C. krusei, Acinetobacter baumannii in the clinical specimens and the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes in cultures were detected by multiplex real-time PCR. A total of 741 clinical samples and 313 cultures were studied.
The high level of microbial colonization, including microorganisms with antibiotic resistance genes, was found in cancer patients. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci, A. baumannii and Candida spp. were detected in 56.6%, 20% and 24.8% of cancer patients, respectively. Of patients infected with A. baumannii, 35.9% had OXA-carbapenemase genes. A. baumannii producing blaOXA40 was the most common cause of infectious complications.
Molecular methods can be used effectively not only for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, but also in microbiological monitoring programs.