Antimicrobial Resistance in Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas spp.

The nonfermenting bacteria belonging to Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas spp. are capable of colonizing both humans and animals and can also be opportunistic pathogens. More specifically, the species Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been recurrently reported as multidrug-resistant and even pandrug-resistant in clinical isolates. Both species were categorized among the ESKAPE pathogens, ESKAPE standing for Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species. These six pathogens are the major cause of nosocomial infections in the United States and are a threat all over the world because of their capacity to become increasingly resistant to all available antibiotics. A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa are both intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics due to complementary mechanisms, the main ones being the low permeability of their outer membrane, the production of the AmpC beta-lactamase, and the production of several efflux systems belonging to the resistance-nodulation-cell division family. In addition, they are both capable of acquiring multiple resistance determinants, such as beta-lactamases or carbapenemases. Even if such enzymes have rarely been identified in bacteria of animal origin, they may sooner or later spread to this reservoir. The goal of this article is to give an overview of the resistance phenotypes described in these pathogens and to provide a comprehensive analysis of all data that have been reported on Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas spp. from animal hosts.