Microbiological monitoring of chronic lung infection caused by Achromobacter spp. in patients with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Objective. To provide a rationale for microbiological monitoring of chronic lung infection caused by Achromobacter spp. in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) to develop an adequate preventive and therapeutic strategy. Materials and methods. This study included 142 Achromobacter strains isolated from 55 children and 35 adults with CF during their follow-up. In this study, classical microbiological (culture) and modern molecular genetic methods (polymerase chain reaction (PCR), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS)), and MALDI-TOF-MS were used. Results. Among the examined patients with chronic lung infection caused by bacteria from the genus Achromobacter, monoinfection was detected in 5.8% of patients. In other cases, associations of Achromobacter spp. with other bacterial species were observed. A. ruhlandii (76%) and A. xylosoxidans (7.2%) were the most frequently isolated species. It was shown that the microbiota in CF patients with chronic lung infection caused by Achromobacter spp. is characterized by variability and is related to long-term circulation of both one genotype with different subpopulation phenotypes and circulation of 2 or more genotypes or species of Achromobacter spp., which has clinical and epidemiological significance. Conclusion. Successful prevention and treatment of Achromobacter spp.-associated infections in CF patients require continuous microbiological monitoring of chronic infection, including that of phenotypic and genotypic properties of Achromobacter spp. strains isolated from patients. Key words: chronic lung infection, Achromobacter sp., microbiological monitoring, genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity, sensitivity to antibiotics