Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii: An Emerging Threat in Health Care Facilities

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic gram-negative pathogen with increasing relevance in a variety of hospital-acquired infections especially among intensive-care-unit patients. Resistance to antimicrobial agents is the main advantage of A. baumannii in the hospital setting. A. baumannii epidemics described worldwide are caused by a limited number of genotypic clusters of multidrug-resistant strains that successfully spread among hospitals of different cities and countries. In this chapter, we will focus on the mechanisms responsible for antimicrobial drug resistance in A. baumannii and the epidemiology of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii in health-care facilities.

Keywords: A. baumannii, Gram negative pathogen, health care, epidemiology, MDR, ESBL