51�Թ�

Coming close was the rise of the multidrug-resistant pathogen called Acinetobacter baumannii, which attacks the lungs of patients on life support in critical care units.

In the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s, the signature drug-resistant pathogen to emerge was the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii.

Earlier in 2024, the World Health Organization updated its list of bacterial pathogens that can develop resistance to antibiotics to include Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli, among others.

Dietary zinc deficiency promotes lung infection by Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria -- a leading cause of ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to a new study published Nov. 15 in the journal Nature Microbiology.

Last month, they published findings in Nature Communications on the interaction between another genus of bacteria, Acinetobacter, and a phage that infects it.