Purpose : Acinetobacter baumannii is an aerobic, gram negative coccobacillus. Due to its pathogenicity and ability to
accumulate diverse mechanisms of resistance, the importance of this organism is increasing. Many reports have targeted
adults, and studies of pediatric patients are limited. This study aims to investigate the current status of A. baumannii infection
in children.
Methods : From January 2001 to December 2008, 505 patients hospitalized with A. baumannii infection were enrolled.
Admission records for underlying disease, duration of hospitalization, previous antibiotic use, location of admission, presence
of ventilator care, and resistance to antibiotics were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.
Results : Hemato-oncological disease and neurological disease were 30.6% and 24.3% of all cases; therefore, these were
the most common underlying diseases of patients with A. baumannii infection. Prevalence of A. baumannii infection was
78.1% in patients with previous antibiotic use, which was higher than that of the group not using previous antibiotic. And
prevalence of multi-drug resistant and pan-drug resistant A. baumannii infection was 76.4% and 38.3% in patients with
ICU care, 76.8% and 38.9% with ventilator care, and these were higher than the others. Rate of resistance to all groups
of antibiotics showed a gradual increase to over 50% in 2008. Multi-drug resistant A. baumannii was 63.5% and pan-drug
resistant A. baumannii was 48.2% of all cases.
Conclusion : Prevalence of A. baumannii infection and resistance to antibacterial agents of A. baumannii is increasing.
Adequate use of antibiotics and infection control should be emphasized in pediatric patients