Objective.

To describe the most relevant aspects about the epidemiology of the outbreaks caused by Acinetobacter baumannii in Latin America, as well as the different resistance mechanisms that this pathogen has acquired thus causing inconveniences when using the different therapeutic treatments.

Materials and methods.

a systematic review was carried out, under the PRISMA declaration, for the search of the information were used databases such as: Scielo, Redalyc, Google academic, 43 articles were found of which only 25 were valid for research.

Results.

The resistance of Acitetobacter baumannii to different antibiotic groups has increased over the years. This increase in resistance is due to several factors among which stand out: β-lactamases directed against beta-lactams, either broad spectrum or carbapenemases; variations in proteins of the outer membrane, ejection pumps, loss of porins, modifications of the place (target) of action of the antibiotics and alterations in the expression of penicillin-fixing proteins. This ability depends in part on the ability of this bacterium to acquire resistance genes, often through horizontal gene transfer.

Conclusions.

A. baumannii has developed multiple antibiotic resistance mechanisms, which increase the harmful consequences of this potential pathogen and represents a major challenge for patients and health personnel.