LAUSR

Acinetobacter baumannii is a leading cause of complicated infections in the hospital environment, particularly among severely ill patients [1]. The crude mortality attributed to Acinetobacter species causing bloodstream infections is higher than 50% [2]. Carbapenems have been one of the main antimicrobial classes used against A. baumannii infections [3], but the emergence and dissemination of carbapenemases have diminished the utility of this class of drugs from an already limited list of existing treatment options [4]. In Brazil, it is known that carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii is considered endemic [5], and the main lineages circulating in that country are those belonging to the clonal complexes (CCs) CC1, CC15 and CC79 [6, 7]. Among the alternatives for the treatment of infections due to carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii, polymyxins and other non-blactam agents, such as tetracyclines, may be valuable options [3]. Given the increasing rates of multidrug(MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) A. baumannii [8], determination of the antimicrobial susceptibility of alternative agents is needed to assess the availability of potential therapeutic options. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the in vitro activity of antimicrobial agents against carbapenemresistant A. baumannii isolates recovered from clinical specimens of patients from several hospitals in the state of S~ao Paulo, Brazil.