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The University of Southampton
Medicine

New study to find cause of antimicrobial resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii

Published: 3 August 2018
Acinetobacter baumannii
Petri dish containing Acinetobacter baumannii

Researchers from the University of Southampton will carry out a study to analyse why a particular bacterium that causes serious infections in the lungs, blood and brain is resistant to antimicrobials.

Acinetobacter baumannii has been recognised as a bacterium commonly contracted in hospital due to their ability to develop resistance to antimicrobials.

Antimicrobials are used extensively in the hospital settings, which has led to the bacteria developing resistance towards these. Despite the public health importance of A. baumannii, little is known about how and why they are resistant to antimicrobials.

The study is being funded with a £37,000 grant from the Fundamental Research grant Scheme in Malaysia and led by the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA).

The Southampton research team, led by Doctors Stuart Clarke and David Cleary will test A. baumannii samples collected from the main tertiary hospital in Terengganu, Malaysia, for antimicrobial resistance.

A sample of the isolates will also be subjected to whole genome sequencing to determine their genome architecture, epidemiology and their carriage of resistance and virulence genes.

Dr Clarke said: “The results obtained from the study will be highly significant as until now, there has not been such data in the public domain regarding A. baumannii isolates from Malaysia. We hope that our research will shed new light on a particularly nasty bacterium.”

 

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