European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases - Call for Papers: Recent Developments on Pathogenicity, Ecology, Virulence, and Antibiotic Resistance in Acinetobacter spp.

ECJM is seeking submissions for an Article Collection dedicated to Recent Developments on Pathogenicity, Ecology, Virulence, and Antibiotic Resistance in Acinetobacter spp., edited by Professor Laurent Poirel, MD, Molecular and Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and Nabil Karah, MD, PhD, Department of Molecular Biology and Umeå Centre for Microbial Research, Umeå University, Sweden.

Acinetobacter spp. and in particular Acinetobacter baumannii are known to be opportunistic human pathogens that may be sources of critical human health problems mainly due to their ability to evolute toward either multidrug- or pandrug resistance. Although few therapeutic options still remain available in many infectious contexts and in many geographical areas, recent developments in term of therapeutical options open new alternatives. Meanwhile, there is an advanced knowledge gained in relation with the ecological distribution of Acinetobacter spp., with increasing reports of animal and environmental reservoirs that may provide opportunities to better identify, trace and eventually control the most worrying spreading clonal backgrounds, as well as their associated transferable resistance determinants. On the other hand, recent works allowed to better characterize some specific properties in relation with human pathogenesis and virulence traits. Finally, novel epidemiological tools including next-generation sequencing allowed to better evaluate the Acinetobacter epidemiology at large scale, and consequently better figure out the interplay possibly existing between different ecological (community, nosocomial, animal) sources. Altogether, significant achievements are being made in the comprehension of all those epidemiological, fundamental, and clinical aspects of Acinetobacter.