Combined therapy for multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection--is there evidence outside the laboratory?

Acinetobacter are among the most common bacteria isolated in hospital infections, especially in developing countries. Multi-drug, extended-drug or pan-drug resistance makes treatment a real medical challenge. In the present review, the authors describe clinical and experimental data in order to present different current and potential future strategies to treat infections caused by multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter. The therapeutic options for carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter are scarce, and the current options have poor pharmacokinetic aspects and several side effects. Combined therapy has been an alternative for multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter. However, this issue is always controversial. In some studies combined therapy has shown superiority for some strains of Acinetobacter in animal models and in vitro studies. However, studies with humans are scarce and too poor quality to suggest the best approach for the treatment of infections caused by multi-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.