Value of phenotypic and genotypic identification of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from two hospitals in Jordan

Acinetobacter baumannii isolates have been recovered from hospitalized patients over the past few years from two hospitals in Jordan. Phenotypic and biochemical characterization in addition to disc susceptibility testing of all clinical isolates indicated that all of them were belonging to A. baumannii. A high degree of conservation of both the ITS length and the ITS sequence was observed, and their identities were further confirmed by amplified ribosomal DNA gene restriction analysis (ARDRA). The application of ARDRA for the identification of Acinetobacter species has several advantages over phenotypic identification. ARDRA considered rapid and reliable and universally applicable method for identification of most of the Acinetobacter genomic species, thus contribute to better understanding of the clinical importance and epidemiology of isolates.