The clinical burden of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has worsened across U.S. hospitals in recent years, according to a study published April 17 in BMC Infectious Diseases.
The bacterial infection is significantly associated with prolonged hospitalizations and a higher risk of mortality. In 2024, the World Health Organization revised its list of dangerous, antimicrobial resistant pathogens and classified A. baumannii as a critical threat.
Because data on the drug-resistant bacteria is scarce, researchers used the PINC AI database to measure the incidence of Acinetobacter baumannii and carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii in U.S. hospitals from 2018 to 2022.
The analysis found a slight increase in the yearly incidence rates of A. baumannii cases per 100 adult hospitalizations between 2018 and 2021. In 2022, the rate fell below 2019 levels.
“Although this finding suggests A. baumannii incidence rates in the USA have remained somewhat consistent over the study period,” researchers said, the incidence of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii grew from 0.39 cases per 100 hospitalizations in 2018 to 0.53 in 2022.
In some regions, there was one drug-resistant case among every 120 to 160 adult hospitalizations. “As patients with [carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii] infections currently have very limited treatment options, commonly relying mainly on older antibiotics, newer agents are urgently needed,” the researchers concluded. “Implementation of strict infection control and routine surveillance may help to reduce the burden.”
