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A minimalist opportunist: the emergence of Acinetobacter baumannii | Journal of Bacteriology
In the early 20th century, Martinus Beijerinck first described members of the Acinetobacter genus, which he named Micrococcus calcoaceticus. The name Acinetobacter (from the Greek akinetos, meaning “non-motile”) was proposed by Brisou and Prévot in 1954 and was later formally recognized by the Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Moraxella and Allied Bacteria in 1971 (1). Although Acinetobacter spp. lack flagella and were initially classified as non-motile, it is now well established that they can exhibit forms of surface-associated motility (2). Acinetobacter species are ubiquitous in the environment; however, the opportunistic pathogen A. baumannii is predominantly associated with hospital settings.
