Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Public Health 2251-6085 51 12 2022 12 17 2753 2763 Mevhibe Terkuran Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts, Faculty of Kadirli Applied Science, University of Osmaniye Korkut Ata, Os-maniye, Türkiye Zerrin Erginkaya Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye Gözde Konuray Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye Melda Meral Department of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye Nevzat Ünal Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Medical Microbiology, Adana, Türkiye Yaşar Sertdemir Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye Fatih Köksal Department of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Çukurova University, Adana, Türkiye 2022 02 08 2022 09 02 Background: The adeABC efflux pump has a crucial role in the resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains to antimicrobial agents; it is encoded by adeABC, adeR, adeS genes. We evaluated antibiotic resistance, efflux pump genes, clonal relationships, and analyzed a probable correlation that can exist between antibiotic resistance and the aforementioned genes. Methods: We conducted this study on 27 food-originated and 50 human clinical Acinetobacter spp. in Southern Türkiye. MALDI-TOF system and disc diffusion/agar dilution (colistin) methods were used for the identification and antibiotic susceptibility. The efflux pump genes and genetic relatedness of the two groups were investigated by (PCR) and (PFGE) methods. Results: Foodborne A. dijkshoorniae strain was multidrug- resistant (MDR), and none of them resistant to colistin. Most of the clinical isolates (92%) were Extensive-Drug Resistant (XDR); highest resistant to ceftazidime, piperacillin-tazobactam, and imipenem (47, 94%), and were lowest to colistin (7, 14%), respectively. adeABC, and adeR, adeS genes were (23, 85.2%), (9, 33.3%), (27, 100%) and (10, 37.3%), (18, 66.7%) in foodborne strains respectively. These rates were (43, 86%), (48, 96%), (50, 100%), and (34, 68%), (48, 96.7%) in clinical strains respectively. A positive correlation existed between adeA gene positivity and piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftazidime, gentamycin, imipenem (P=0.048), amikacin (P=0.007) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (P=0.029) resistance in clinical strains. A positive correlation of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance and adeS gene positivity was seen in foodborne strains (P=0.018). Conclusion: Multiple-efflux pump genes rise in parallel to multidrug-resistance in clinical isolates, while susceptible to diverse antibiotics; food may be a potential provenance for the dissemination of adeABC, adeR and adeS genes.   https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/27804 https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/download/27804/7806