Survival of clinical and food Acinetobacter spp. isolates exposed to different stress conditions.
Acinetobacter baumanni is recognized as one of the most important agents of nosocomial infections. Other species such as Acinetobacter lwoffii have also been associated with such infections. These species can be found in food products, such as vegetables, fruits and meats which can be a source of transmission of these organisms to community and hospital settings. Evidence that hospitals' kitchens are a route of entry of pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria was recently demonstrated. This study aimed to determine whether different Acinetobacter spp. isolated from human and food samples (lettuce, turkey meat, apple and pear) were resistant to stress conditions often applied in food processes, such as exposure to 60 °C, AMUKINA® and vinegar. Also the influence of food matrices on the behavior of isolates to these stress conditions was evaluated. Treatment with AMUKINA® and vinegar were effective against all clinical and food isolates. Exposure to 60 °C resulted in the reduction of the majority of isolates to values below the detection limit of the enumeration technique, however, it is important to note that most of the reductions only occurred after 30 min of exposure. One food isolate identified as A. baumanni was resistant to this thermal treatment and one clinical isolate only decreased 4 log cycles after 1 h. In general, food isolates were demonstrated to be more resistant than clinical isolates and no significant differences (p > 0.05) were found between A. baumanni and A. lwoffii species. With the exception of one food isolate that was more resistant to thermal stress in the presence of turkey meat, the food matrices investigated did not confer protection to the applied stresses. Due to the limited knowledge on this topic, we believe that this study is an important contribution to understanding the behavior of Acinetobacter spp. when exposed to treatments commonly applied to foods.
['Campos|Ana|A|', 'Lopes|Maria Sequeira|MS|', 'Carvalheira|Ana|A|', 'Barbosa|Joana|J|', 'Teixeira|Paula|P|']
D019342:Acetic Acid D000150:Acinetobacter D000151:Acinetobacter Infections D040981:Acinetobacter baumannii D004202:Disinfectants D005511:Food Handling D005516:Food Microbiology D006761:Hospitals D006358:Hot Temperature D006801:Humans D018545:Lettuce D057230:Limit of Detection D027845:Malus D008460:Meat D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests D011174:Portugal D031989:Pyrus D013312:Stress, Physiological D013997:Time Factors
Acinetobacter lwoffii Vinegar Food matrices Thermal stress AMUKINA(®) Acinetobacter baumannii