The aim of the study was to evaluate for a long time the effectiveness of an intervention designed to reduce carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) and its impact on colistin usage in the ICU of a tertiary hospital in Spain. The rate of carbapenem resistance declined drastically during the period of study (2015 to 2018), from 93.57 to 74.65%, especially in the ICU. A significant decrease in colistin usage, from 1.16 to 0.39 DOTs, was observed. Forty-nine CRAB isolates recovered nearly 1 year after starting the intervention were characterized. Most of them were recovered from patients admitted in wards other than ICU and were extensively drug-resistant, carried blaOXA-23-like and armA, and belonged to ST218. Implementation of control measures is crucial to CRAB control in ICUs but must be extended to all wards in order to eradicate CRAB from hospitals.
Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii; Carbapenemase; Intensive care unit; OXA-23; armA.