Acinetobacter baumannii: Virulence Strategies and Host Defense Mechanisms

Acinetobacter baumannii is a highly antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen known to cause severe life-threatening infections, including pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. Recent emergence of this bacterium as a serious nosocomial pathogen has led to categorization of A. baumannii as a "high-priority" pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO), for which research efforts are urgently required to develop therapeutic interventions. Some of the properties that make A. baumannii a serious pathogen include its capacity to tolerate high levels of stress and enhanced expression of efflux pumps that enable high degrees of antibiotic resistance. Virulence mechanisms employed by A. baumannii to establish successful infection and host responses elicited against A. baumannii to counter the infection are discussed in detail in this article.