The German Research Foundation has recently approved a new unit, under the leadership of researchers based in Frankfurt, which will uncover the molecular basis for the dramatic increase in multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains.
A. baumannii has become a common and excellently adapted nosocomial pathogen in developed countries. It causes 5% to 10% of nosocomial pneumonias and 2% to 10% of all infections in intensive care wards in European clinics. The increase in antibiotic resistance is alarming and infections with A. baumannii are frequently fatal.
Several institutes from the Goethe University are involved in the research unit 2251 “Adaptation and persistence of Acinetobacter baumannii” including the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Bioenergetics, the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, the Institute for Cell Biology and Neuroscience, and the Institute for Biochemistry. The Universities of Cologne and Regenburg, as well as the Robert Koch Institute, are additional collaborators.
The researchers will study the biology, infection process and the basis for multi-drug resistance of A. baumannii using a highly interdisciplinary approach. The objective is to determine how it has adapted so well to the hospital environment and what its multi-drug resistance is based on. The answers to these questions will facilitate treatment related to this dramatically increasing nosocomial pathogen.
Source: Goethe University