Acinetobacter baumannii: An Emerging and Important Pathogen

Abstract

Objective: To review the clinical significance, management, and control of Acinetobacter infections.

Methods: Literature review.

Results: Acinetobacter infections have become a major cause of hospital-acquired infections worldwide. Acinetobacter is noted for its ability to survive for long periods on hospital surfaces and equipment, its predilection to develop resistance to multiple antibiotics, its affinity to cause serious infections in critically ill patients, and many well described outbreaks attributable to contamination of a common source. The crude ICU mortality is approximately 40%. Rigorous antibiotic stewardship and infection control measures are critical to prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter infections. There is also a pressing need for new therapeutic options.

Conclusion: Acinetobacter is an emerging pathogen of increasing significance.

Figure

Variable morphology and staining of Acinetobacter species. The organism appears as gram-negative cocci and bacilli in the top figure A (Gram stain of sputum) but as gram-positive bacilli in the bottom figure B (Gram stain of blood). Both specimens came from the same patient during a single episode of illness. (Reprinted with permission from Kortepeter MG, Lemmon JW, Moran KA. A soldier with traumatic brain injury and meningitis. Clin Infect Dis 2005;41:1604–5, 1675–6.)