The emergence over the last decade or so of Acinetobacter baumanii as a resistant nosocomial pathogen is a predictable event. Acinetobacter is able to very effectively withstand environmental insults including drying, using inbuilt mechanisms that also enhance its capacity to resist antimicrobial agents and biocides. This capacity is owed to its genetic makeup and genomic plasticity. As a result, it survives in the environment almost as well as a Gram-positive organism like MRSA and yet retains the adapative capacity of its Gram-negative cousins. In this session we discuss the characteristics of this pathogen and compare it others such as MRSA, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas. We also discuss the ecosystems of which it is a member and look at the derangements we impose on these in order to understand how we have arrived at this point and how best to face the future.