Acinetobacter baumannii is a notorious bacterial pathogen that can cause an array of nosocomial infections in clinical settings. However, the data from the veterinary settings is limited and especially in Pakistan, no such study is conducted so far. To investigate the prevalence, antimicrobial resistance, and distribution of specific sequence types of A. baumannii in cattle, a total of 1,960 samples were collected from cattle over 18 months from Punjab, Pakistan. The isolates obtained were identified using the API20NE system and confirmed through PCR. The isolated A. baumannii isolates were further screened for antimicrobial susceptibility and the presence of resistance genes. Multilocus sequence typing was carried out to characterize the carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) isolates. Results revealed an overall prevalence of A. baumannii at 3.31% (65/1,960) with a higher prevalence of 7.38% (54/731) in dairy cattle compared to beef cattle at 4.41% (11/249). Among 65 A. baumannii isolates, 27.7% (18/65) were CRAB. All CRAB isolates harbor class D β-lactamases genes blaOXA-23 and blaOXA-51, whereas 94.4% (17/18) CRAB isolates carried class B β-lactamases gene blaIMP, and only one isolate had blaNDM-1 gene. The commonly found sequence types for CRAB isolates were ST2 and ST642 corresponding to 10 and 05 isolates, respectively. The presence of CRAB in cattle indicates an alarming situation that necessitates an urgent and efficient surveillance system to limit the transmission of CRAB among the cattle population and its possible transmission to humans and the environment.
Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii; antimicrobial; carbapenemases; metallo-beta-lactamases.