Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Aug 21:11:1249-1260.
doi: 10.2147/IDR.S166750. eCollection 2018.

Insight into Acinetobacter baumannii: pathogenesis, global resistance, mechanisms of resistance, treatment options, and alternative modalities

Muhammad Asif  1   2 , Iqbal Ahmad Alvi  1   3 , Shafiq Ur Rehman  1
Affiliations
Review

Insight into Acinetobacter baumannii: pathogenesis, global resistance, mechanisms of resistance, treatment options, and alternative modalities

Muhammad Asif et al. Infect Drug Resist. .

Abstract

Acinetobacter baumannii, once considered a low-category pathogen, has emerged as an obstinate infectious agent. The scientific community is paying more attention to this pathogen due to its stubbornness to last resort antimicrobials, including carbapenems, colistin, and tigecycline, its high prevalence of infections in the hospital setting, and significantly increased rate of community-acquired infections by this organism over the past decade. It has given the fear of pre-antibiotic era to the world. To further enhance our understanding about this pathogen, in this review, we discuss its taxonomy, pathogenesis, current treatment options, global resistance rates, mechanisms of its resistance against various groups of antimicrobials, and future therapeutics.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; colistin; phage therapy; tigecycline.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different mechanisms of resistance in A. baumannii: (I) beta-lactams; (II) aminoglycosides; (III) quinolones; (IV) colistin. Abbreviations: AME, aminoglycoside modifying enzyme; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; OMP, outer membrane porin; PBP, penicillin-binding protein.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pourhajibagher M, Hashemi FB, Pourakbari B, Aziemzadeh M, Bahador A. Antimicrobial resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii to imipenem in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Open Microbiol J. 2016;10:32–42. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Qi L, Li H, Zhang C, et al. Relationship between antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, and biofilm-specific resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii. Front Microbiol. 2016;7:483. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beijerinck M. Pigmenten als oxydatieproducten gevormd door bacterien. Versl Koninklijke Akad Wetensch Amsterdam. 1911;19:1092–1103.
    1. Brisou J, Prevot AR. Studies on bacterial taxonomy. X. The revision of species under Acromobacter group. Annales de l’Institut Pasteur. 1954;86(6):722–728. - PubMed
    1. Baumann P. Isolation of Acinetobacter from soil and water. J Bacteriol. 1968;96(1):39–42. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources