PERSISTENCE OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA STRAINS IN PATIENTS OF FEDE RAL SCIENTIFIC CENTER OF TRANSPLANTOLOGY AND ARTIFICIAL ORGANS

Aim. Study genetic diversity of P. aeruginosa strains persisting in patients of Federal Scientific Center
of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, and main factors facilitating persistence of strains in the
hospital. Materials and methods. 136 P. aeruginosa strains isolated from patients of the center for 3 years
6 months were genotyped by RAPD-PCR and MLST methods and studied for antibiotics resistance
and presence of integrons. Results. Genetic diversity of strains persisting in hospital was established.
Strains of main genotypes ST235, ST446, ST598 were isolated from patients of various surgical departments.
Patients were shown to be colonized by these strains during stay in reanimation and intensive
therapy department (RITD) of the hospital. Strains of dominant genotype 235 were isolated from 47%
of examined patients during more than 3 years. Only genotype 235 strains contained integron with
cassettes of antibiotics resistance genes blaGES5 and aadA6 in the genome. Conclusion. The data obtained
show that over the period of observation in the center 1 clone of P. aeruginosa that belonged to
genotype 235 dominated. This clone was endemic for this hospital and in the process of prolonged
persistence became more resistant to antibiotics. Colonization of patients with these strains occurs in
RITD. This confirms the necessity of constant monitoring of hospital microflora for advance detection
of potentially dangerous epidemic hospital strains able to cause hospital infections.

P. aeruginosa, hospital infection, persistence, P. aeruginosa