Abstract
We conducted a prospective cohort study of non-critically ill patients admitted to a tertiary care center between December 2003 and September 2004 and obtained perirectal samples at hospital admission to determine the prevalence of Acinetobacter baumannii. A baumannii was isolated from 1 of 555 cultures (0.18%); no multidrug-resistant A baumannii was identified. Interventions aimed at early identification of A baumannii-colonized patients may not benefit by widely targeting non-critically ill patients on hospital admission.