Development of Efflux Pumps and Inhibitors (EPIs) in A. baumanii

Acinetobacter baumanii is a Gram-negative, non-fermenting, oxidase-negative and non-motile coccobacillus, [1]. It can survive in water, soil, surface of skin and hospital environment. It cause a series of opportunistic infections such as epidemic pneumonia, skin and soft tissue infections, bacteraemia, urinary tract infections and septicemia app:addword:septicemia in immunocompromised patients, especially in the intensive care unit [2]. With the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, A. baumannii has become the mayor pathogen in nosocomial infections [3]. To make matters worse, therapeutic outcomes in patients are severely affected due to the emergency of acquired multidrug resistance. These multidrug resistant strains of A. baumannii employ resistant mechanisms such as the use of chromosomally encoded cephalosporinase, degradation of enzymes, modification or protection of the drug target sites, decreased permeability of the membrane and the active efflux of antibiotics [3,4]. Resistant mechanisms in A. baumannii have aroused researchers’ widespread attention in last decades.