Epidemiology and clonality of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii from a healthcare region in Hong Kong.

We assessed the risk factors and molecular epidemiology of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) in Hong Kong. The patients were treated in five hospitals in a healthcare region during 2005-2006. We performed genomic identification by amplified rRNA gene restriction analysis (ARDRA) and investigated the existence of metallo-beta-lactamases and the clonality of representative MDR-AB strains by phenotypic and molecular methods. Forty-five subjects with MDR-AB were compared with 135 controls (patients with no MDR-AB). In the logistic regression, chronic wound (odds ratio: 29.5, 95% confidence interval: 8.1-107.2; P