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Abstract
[Full-Text
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Macedonian Journal of
Medical Sciences. 2009 Jun 15; 2(2):157-162.
doi:10.3889/MJMS.1857-5773.2009.0043
Review
Acinetobacter spp. – A Serious Enemy Threatening Hospitals Worldwide
Biljana Kurcik-Trajkovska
Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology, Medical Faculty, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Acinetobacter is gram-negative, strictly aerobic bacteria. It is a
heterogeneous group of organisms that is ubiquitous, widely distributed in
nature. Surviving in hospital environment (they are able to survive on dry
particles and dust up to ten days, more then four months on both moist and
dry surfaces such as PVC, rubber, ceramics and various types of medical
equipment) they are an important cause of infection in immunocompromised
patients. A. baumannii, the major cause of intrahospital infections,
exhibits a remarkable ability to rapidly develop antibiotic resistance to
several classes of antimicrobial agents that led to MDRA, or to almost all
currently available antibacterial agents, except to polymixins. There is an
increasing incidence of these infections in hospital intensive care units.
The prevalence currently ranges from 2% to 10% of all gram-negative
bacterial infections in Europe and about 2.5% of them in the United States.
Good treatment choice, combined with infection control measures should help
in preventing intrahospital spread of multiresistant strains of
Acinetobacter spp. Nevertheless, their adaptation mechanisms to
antibiotic selection pressure suggest that this problem will continue into
the future.
Key words: Acinetobacter; multiresistance; hospital-acquired.
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