OBJECTIVE To investigate the suspected outbreak of one incident of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) infection in an intensive care unit (ICU) so as to provide experience and reference for prevention and control of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) infections in a grass-root hospital.

METHODS The epidemiological survey and environmental hygiene surveillance were performed for 8 patients with CRAB infection who were detected in ICU of Qingbaijiang District People′s Hospital from Jul. 21, 2022 to Aug. 6, 2022 so as to find out the infection sources and transmission routes and take targeted intervention measures.

RESULTS Totally 8 patients had CRAB infection in the ICU in a short time period, the drug resistance spectrum was basically the same; the CRAB infection/colonization rate was 12.50%(8/64), the incidence rate of CRAB infection was 7.81%(5/64), which was higher during this period than that during the same period in 2020 and 2021 (P < 0.05). The environmental hygiene surveillance showed that the isolation rate of CRAB was 6.00%(3/50). The strains isolated from the hand washing sink between bed 2 and bed 3, the hanging tower of bed 13 and the countertops of treatment rooms showed the basically same result of drug susceptibility testing with CRAB strains isolated from the patients. This incident had been effectively under control through targeted prevention and control strategies such as the control and separation of the patients, subgrouping treatment and nursing, repeated deep cleaning and disinfection as well as strict implementation of hand hygiene.

CONCLUSION The overloaded enrollment of patients, insufficient between-bed interval, poor and delayed cleaning and disinfection of environmental object surfaces, extensive contamination of instrument and facilities, spare supplies and hand washing sink are probably the leading causes of outbreak and prevalence of CRAB.