| Coming to a hospital near you! Mapping the spread of Acinetobacter baumannii Multiple, Extremely and Completely Drug Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Three Canadian Soldiers sick with Superbug "as many as 40 percent of soldiers returning from the NATO mission in Afghanistan carry the bacteria" Necrotizing factiitis Necrotizing fasciitis or fasciitis necroticans, commonly known as "flesh-eating bacteria", is a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues, easily spreading across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue. Many types of bacteria can cause necrotizing fasciitis (eg. Group A streptococcus, Vibrio vulnificus, Clostridium perfringens, Bacteroides fragilis), of which Group A streptococcus is the most common cause. Necrotizing fasciitis can be a secondary infection to MRSA or AB as the drugs used to treat them allow the the other organisms to proliferate. Don't let the hospital ditch your loved ones Hospitals are ditching infected patients to nursing homes to die. Ditching an infected patient can keep them from having to report an outbreak to the health authorities as well as keep their number of deaths down. These hospitals are usually the ones to give these deadly infections to the patients in the first place. Start making demands before more people die needlessly Report Ditching junglem@yahoo.com New Rule Enacted by Bush Administration Impedes Cases Against Nursing Homes by Cindy Skrzycki read story here Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Rehab Centers, are NOT required to report these deadly infections to anyone and often lie about them to the patients and their families. bacteria, bacterium, bacterial infections, infectious disease Also Known As: MDRAb, MDRAbc, Iraqibacter, Iraqi bacter, A baumannii, T strain, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Ab, Abc, Aca, baumannii, baumanii, baumanni, baumani Not all Acinetobacter baumannii is from the military evacuation system from Iraq but much of it is. Ask to have the strain identified. This will be very important if you need to litigate. Acinetobacter baumannii can cause pnuemonia, urinary tract infections, sepsis, meningitis, trach site infections, wound infections, skin infections, picc line infections, endophthalmitis, Acinetobacter baumannii is an organism that causes nosocomial infections. It is not from the soil in Iraq, it is not from "insurgents" putting bombs in dead animals or putting animal feces on IED's, it is from the unsanitary conditions in the hospital systems. YES, Acinetobacter baumannii can kill you. YES, Acinetobacter baumannii is contagious. You do not have to be the sickest of the sick, the weakest of the weak, or immunocomprised to become infected though it does increase the morbidity rate. Acinetobacter baumannii lives for up to 90 days on both wet and dry surfaces. It can be passed as easily as touching a handrail, curtain, doctors labcoat or tie, the cleaning cart which goes from room to room, the possibilities are endless. Acinetobacter baumannii CAN be passed to family members. To report cases of Acinetobacter infections or check the list of infected civilian hospitals please go to our mapping page Mapping the spread of Acinetobacter baumannii to civilian hospitals Report Grant Hospital in Columbus Ohio AB infections here Florida Vs the Superbugs For one such organism called Acinetobacter, rates of resistance to carbapenems, considered last-resort antibiotics, have jumped from 9 percent in 1995 to 40 percent in 2004, meaning these infections are often completely untreatable — most often resulting in a death. MDRA. baumannii may often contaminate protective equipment of health care workers Almost 40% of protective gowns and gloves worn by health care workers who were exposed to patients with multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii became contaminated during contact, according to findings presented at the 2009 meeting of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists of America, held in San Diego. GAO United States Government Accountability Office Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health Care, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate HEALTH-CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS IN HOSPITALS Continuing Leadership Needed from HHS to Prioritize Prevention Practices and Improve Data on These Infections report here Paula Loyd dies from infection at Brooke Army Medical Center "We thought she was going to be OK," Roberts said. "But then the infection, and the pneumonia. It was a shock." from this story More on Paula Loyd March 2, 2009 Two Hospital Patients with bacterial infections die CHICAGO -- Two intensive-care patients at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago have died after becoming infected with a common bacteria, the hospital said today. Officials learned on Feb. 23 that four patients were infected with acinetobacter, a bacteria that can be found in soil and water and on people's skin, according to a statement issued two days later. February 16, 2009 Deadly Bacteria defy drugs, alarming doctors By Mary Engel LA Times February 17, 2009 When Ruth Burns had surgery to relieve a pinched nerve in her back, the operation was supposed to be an "in-and-out thing," recalled her daughter, Kacia Warren, who now has the Ohio Infectious Disease Blog. Burns developed pneumonia and was put on a ventilator. Five days later, she was discharged -- only to be rushed by her daughter to the hospital hours later, disoriented and in alarming pain. Seventeen days after the surgery, the 67-year-old nurse was dead. January 24, 2009 Brazilian Model Mariani Bridi dies of drug resistant infection after losing hands and feet Mariana Bridi, 20, who according to Gawker came close twice to representing Brazil in the Miss World competition, died of complications related to a rare form of septicemia caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Espirito Santo State Health Secretariat released a statement noting that the bacteria was known to be resistant to multiple kinds of antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is another gram negative hospital acquired infection which is prevalent in our military and civilian hospitals. January 8 2008. Hospital Scrubs Are a Germy, Deadly Mess By BETSY MCCAUGHEY You see them everywhere -- nurses, doctors and medical technicians in scrubs or lab coats. They shop in them, take buses and trains in them, go to restaurants in them, and wear them home. What you can't see on these garments are the bacteria that could kill you. Dirty scrubs spread bacteria to patients in the hospital and allow hospital superbugs to escape into public places such as restaurants. Some hospitals now prohibit wearing scrubs outside the building, partly in response to the rapid increase in an infection called "C. diff." A national hospital survey released last November warns that Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections are sickening nearly half a million people a year in the U.S., more than six times previous estimates. The problem is that some medical personnel wear the same unlaundered uniforms to work day after day. They start their shift already carrying germs such as C.diff, drug-resistant enterococcus or staphylococcus. Doctors' lab coats are probably the dirtiest. At the University of Maryland, 65% of medical personnel confess they change their lab coat less than once a week, though they know it's contaminated. Fifteen percent admit they change it less than once a month. Superbugs such as staph can live on these polyester coats for up to 56 days. October 21st, 2008 U.S. Army delays, alters medical studies under little-known scientific censorship program Policy 'stifles scientific discourse,' says an Army epidemiologist By Bryant Furlow Epinewswire Since 2006, U.S. Army censors have scrutinized hundreds of medical studies, scientific posters, abstracts, and Powerpoint presentations authored by doctors and scientists at Walter Reed and other Army medical research centers, documents obtained with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal—part of a little-known prepublication review process called "Actionable Medical Information Review." The program is intended to deny Iraqi and Afghan insurgents sensitive data such as combat injury and death rates. But dozens of studies reviewed under the program did not involve research related to combat operations. They did, however, include potentially controversial research, such as studies of the effects of war on soldiers' children and families, hospital-acquired infections, veterans' post-deployment adjustment issues, refugees, suicide, alcoholism, vaccines, cancer among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, and problems with military health care databases. More than 300 scientific documents have been reviewed by Army censors to date. Overall, fewer than half have been cleared for publication in their original form. In 2007, 6 percent of papers were denied permission for public disclosure, but so far this year that denial rate has nearly tripled to 17 percent. Medical journals contacted by epiNewswire had not been informed that the review process exists, or that Army researchers' scientific papers may have been altered at the behest of censors. Army researchers whose work is suppressed or altered by censors have few appeal options, and to date, no appeals panel has been convened. The program "stifles scientific discourse," according to one Army epidemiologist who faces disciplinary action after writing a letter to the editor of Stars & Stripes without seeking censors' permission. "Those who stand to lose the most from this policy are the service members it was ostensibly designed to protect," he contends. Read the full story here Brownsville Texas Acinetobacter patient dies June 30th Blood bank worker diagnosed with Ab July 12th The Iraqibacter A relatively benign bug becomes a highly lethal pathogen, known to U.S. soldiers as Iraqibacter. Watch the Nova Science segment aired on PBS July 9, 2008 HERE Please note that the segment starts out promoting the notion that soldiers are picking up the bug on the streets of Iraq. Maybe that sounds more interesting than they are being given the Acinetobacter baumannii in the military evacuation and/or health systems, but the continued promotion of this lie does nothing to help the wounded who must deal with this. June 8 TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury and Acinetobacter baumannii Has the use of large doses of neurotoxic drugs to treat Acinetobacter baumannii had an impact on the healing and recovery of TBI Traumatic Brain Injury patients? June 2, 2008 6:30 pm Senator Robert C Byrd, D-WV, longest serving Senator in American history, back in hospital with fever. Sen Byrd picked up an urinary tract infection at Walter Reed in February and had to be readmitted a few days later. His home health care nurse was worried about his lethargy and fever this evening. This is how it happens with Acinetobacter baumannii though it could be one of the other drug resistant infections running rampant at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. May 18, 2008 Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield dies of infection in Cleveland hospital He makes it home alive from Iraq on leave, survives a point blank shooting, only to die of an infection in the hospital. Cleveland and most of Ohio is extremely contaminated with Acinetobacter baumannii. May 16, 2008 Senator Bill Nelson, Florida, can't be bothered with little things like Acinetobacter baumannii outbreaks in his state or the rest of the country. After begging for help from him many times over the last four years this is the response I get: Please do not reply to this e-mail. If you need to send another message to Senator Nelson, please use the form on his Web site: http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm#email Dear Mrs. Hascall Clark: Thank you for contacting me regarding Acinetobacter baumannii infections. I appreciate your taking the time to be involved and informed about matters important to Florida and our nation. Please know that I will keep your views in mind if this issue is considered before the Senate. If you have any other concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me in the future. It's not rape, it may not get you any press Mr. Nelson, but it is killing innocent people and you just don't care. May 11, 2008 Injured US Troops Battle Drug Resistant Bacteria NPR Weekend Edition Sunday Marine Sgt. David Emery was manning a checkpoint outside Haditha, Iraq, in early 2007 when he was seriously injured in an attack by a suicide bomber. The 22-year-old Pennsylvanian lost both of his legs, not just because of the blast, but also because of a subsequent infection by the highly drug-resistant bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii. There is one major untruth in this story. Wortmann says they don't know where the Acinetobacter came from and that it may have been in the old Iraqi hospitals that they used. These Acinetobacter baumannii genotypes have been identified and they know exactly where they came from. While there may have been Acinetobacter baumannii strains in the old Iraqi hospitals the problem remains with the military health system, their empowerment and spread of the bug. Listen here Hospital bug killed 18 Doce de Octubre patients Bosses at the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid have admitted that the deaths of 18 out of 252 patients infected by the Acinetobacter Baumannii bacteria since February 2006 were as a direct result. In total, 101 of the 252 affected patients have since died, and, in the majority cases, the infection was found to have been a contributory factor. The outbreak of the multi-drug resistant bacteria has taken twenty months to contain and has forced the demolition of the old intensive care unit, from where it had proven impossible to eradicate, read story here Deadly Bacteria kills 18 at Major Madrid Hospital Drug Resistant Bacteria kills 18 in Spanish Hospital May 8, 2008 Superbug scare hits Coventry Universities Hospital COVENTRY'S University Hospital has been hit by a new superbug scare. A ward had to be closed because of the bug, thought to be carried by soldiers returning from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Staff at the hospital in Walsgrave identified three patients with the bacterium acinetobacter baumannii known as MRAB. full story here May 6, 2008 Southern (Australia) man struck by superbug A SOUTHERN man has contracted a deadly superbug linked to wounded troops returning from the Iraq War. Alan Fehlberg, 65, picked up the bacterial infection, which is extremely rare in South Australia, while on holiday in Egypt. He is fighting for his life in Flinders Medical Centre after spending the past three months in intensive care units in Cairo, Paris and Singapore. story here April 29 Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownsville Texas reports 19 cases of Acinetobacter baumannii This is a very large reported outbreak for one hospital. We have been warning of an outbreak in this area. McAllen, Alamo, Weslaco, Harlingen, San Benito, Olmito Read the worst story full of misinformation yet here April 16, 2008 Milwaukee VA Hospital says MDRAb NO BIG DEAL it happens here all the time !! A patient goes into the Milwaukee Wisconsin Veterans Administration hospital where he gets pnuemonia which is later identified or at least the family is later told that it is an Acinetobacter baumannii infection. His kidneys have shut down, he has sepsis, and the antibiotics aren't working. The family is told not to worry it's no big deal, it happens there all the time..... April 10 Soldiers blamed for deadly superbug by Michele Paduano BBC Eight patients died from a superbug after a new strain was introduced to a hospital where soldiers injured in Iraq are treated, a freedom of information request by the BBC has revealed. read story here The bug is resistant to virtually all known antibiotics Watch Video here April 2, 2008 Pandemic fear over resistant superbug Doctors have warned that if a superbug which is known to be even more resistant to antibiotics than clostridium difficile and MRSA takes hold in hospitals, the country could face a pandemic. The acinetobacter bug is being treated with older antibiotics because newer ones do not work. There are fears that injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have passed the infection on in civilian hospitals. Prof Matthew Falagas, an expert in hospital-acquired infections, said: "In some cases, we have simply run out of treatments and we could be facing a pandemic with public health implications." read story here February 25, 2008 Army Spc Kevin Mowl dies at National Naval Medical Center after 61/2 month battle with Acinetobacter baumannii. Kevins wounds were survivable. read story here February 18 Completely Drug Resistant Acinetobacter baumanni kills 49 year old woman in Lousianna. Second patient on same floor dies from the same. Hospital admits to being source of infection. The Ab was tested for susceptibility to every drug available and it was resistant to every one. February 11, 2008 Palo Alto VA Polytrauma Rehab Center It's the VA's premiere facility for severe brain trauma - one of only four such hospitals in the country -- and the only one on the West Coast. The notion makes Carol Blake laugh, "If that's premiere then I don't know what the worst is - honestly." And Orton has a warning: "to all parents who want their children to get better - don't take them to Palo Alto." Blake describes her view of the VA Palo Alto rehab center simply. "Incompetence, the level of incompetence was very high at the facility." Her son Brandon suffered an aneurism at McChord Air Force Base. After surgery, he went to Palo Alto VA for intensive therapy. Carol Blake says the therapy was minimal, and the staff was ill-equipped for someone with such a severe brain injury. "My son's first doctor was a student from Stanford specializing in orthopedics," she said. She says the worst was when doctors and nurses ignored her for days after she discovered swelling on Brandon's head. "I said 'did you look at the site that was swollen?' he said 'yes I did.' I said 'then how on earth could you not notice that his skull has opened and pus is coming from it?'" An infection had penetrated Brandon's skull. Emergency surgery removed the infection along with part of Brandon's skull. As soon as she could, Blake transfered her son to Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. January 25, 2008 Dutch Military battling new enemy Soldiers in action against resistant bacteria AD reports that "there is a similar intensive care unit at the Dutch military camp in Afghanistan". "So we've got the experience to get everything set up quickly," adds one of the soldiers with a wink. January 16, 2008 Columbus Ohio Acinetobacter baumannii patient life support removed January 15, 2009 Seven reported cases of Acinetobacter baumannii at University of Maryland Medical Center, three dead read story here January 14, 2008 Ongoing Problems at Walter Reed by Matt Tenner at TRUTHOUT Encouraged by the firings of top military officials as a result of the problems at Walter Reed, Connor spoke out about the dilapidated conditions at Walter Reed. He sent a letter to Gen. Gregory A. Schumacher with recommendations for improving conditions in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where there were equipment shortages and outbreaks of infectious bacteria, including extremely dangerous drug-resistant forms of Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium that has been ravaging injured soldiers in Iraq and in domestic military hospitals. The infection problems caused other units within the hospital to lose faith in the ICU's ability to care for surgical patients. Because of the infections, "the kidney transplant team will not recover their patients in the surgical ICU anymore," Connor said in the interview. According to Connor, his recommendations were not acted upon. Instead, he claims that he was retaliated against. "I thought he would thank me for letting him know where there were areas that needed to be fixed ... I have been retaliated against because of the letters that I have sent out. It is pretty transparent ... Everyone that has seen what happened around me is just like 'yeah, they're going after you.'" January 12, 2008 Toledo Ohio healthy hospital worker infected with Acinetobacter baumannii and MRSA fighting for her life January 11, 2008 Iraq Afghanistan Blood Fears Soldiers and staff have long given blood on the spot when needed. There is no excuse for them to be put in this position. There is money for lobster in the Green Zone but not enough to properly equip, supply, and man the medical facilities. December 12, 2007 Health Officials warn hospitals of Afghan Bug Threat posed by highly resistant bacteria underlines lack of preparedness Federal authorities are warning hospitals across the country to beware of a highly drug resistant bacteria that wounded troops are bringing back from Afghanistan -- and that could inadvertently be spread to civilian patients. The threat posed by the resistant strain of acinetobacter underlines the health care system's general lack of readiness for such emerging infections as they arrive in the country, said a senior Public Health Agency of Canada official. Insurgents in the Bloodstream by Chas Henry Kim Moran and Glenn Wortmann of Walter Reed discuss Acinetobacter baumannii in the military evacuation system from Iraq and Afghanistan and the toll it has taken on our casualties. November 14, 2007 Polymicrobial Infections Four years ago we were still trying to find out if Acinetobacter baumannii, which my husband was being treated for following his trip through the Dogwood Field Hospital, Landstuhl, and Walter Reed, was the same "bug" that so many wounded soldiers from Iraq were infected with. The CDC and the DoD wouldn't answer that question until I threatened to go to the press. Little did I know at the time that the press wouldn't touch this subject. Three years ago the website was started in an effort to warn people about this dangerous bug. We hoped that maybe by exposing this problem the military would be forced to deal with it. There was very little information available and the military was keeping the lid on their problem. Four and half years the military had to contain this bug but little was done and they labeled it a "Mystery". Infectious Disease Protocal was not followed. Family members were not told how contagious it was.. Extremely drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains from the military medical evacuation system have contaminated military and civilian medical facilities all across the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, and every country with a wounded soldier or civilian contractor that went home via a US field hospital and/or Landstuhl. Landstuhl has treated casualties from 40 countries. Innocent civilians are dying in hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical facilities from MDR Acinetobacter baumannii. In many cases their family members are not being told they have it. Many soldiers and civilians are being infected with two, three, and even four Superbugs at one time. Bethesda Naval Hospital has one of the largest outbreaks of polymicrobial infections and refuses to release documents regarding this despite FOIA filings. Ironically they claim these are "quality control" documents and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. When you treat with toxic drugs for one superbug the other superbugs have no competition and flourish. Nick Narron was infected with MRSA, MDR A baumannii, Klebsiella pnuemonia, and E coli after successful heart surgery at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville Kentucky this summer. A transplant patient at the same facility was infected with MDR A baumannii and VRE and didn't make it to the transplant. MRSA, VRE, Klebsiella pnuemonia, C. diff have all fast tracked to drug resistance alongside Acinetobacter baumannii in the underfunded, understaffed, overloaded military medical system. The entire military health system has been infected. Soldiers and civilian contractors have taken these pathogens with them when transferred to private hospitals, long term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, and their homes. VA Medical Centers are all affiliated with civilian learning hospitals and staff members routinely transit between facilities and patients without a change of clothes. Will we ever know how many lives and limbs have been lost since the beginning of the Iraq War to these organisms? Not likely. The cause of death in military facilities will always be listed as from wounds sustained in battle or ied attack. Civilian facilities will always list the death as complications from the original reason for entering the hospital. August 1, 2007 32 WLKY Target Investigaton SUPERGERMS LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- For years, doctors have warned about the overuse of antibiotics for fear that bacteria could become more resistant. Now, there is more evidence they were right. Stronger bacteria are invading hospitals across the country and Louisville. Target 32’s Paul Moses discovered anyone can be a carrier and not find out until it’s too late. “She never really understood what was going on. One of the nurses had to write down ancinetobactor baumannii on paper, give it to her and say ‘look it up,’” Marcie Hascall Clark said. “This is what your husband has.” read story and watch video here The Battle over multiple drug resistant microbes: MRSA, Acinetobacter baumannii, C. difficile, etc. "Irresponsible medicine" Early this year (2006) an outbreak of MDR Acinetobacter baumannii swept over Arizona, 236 cases in just two months. It was reported by the state disease monitoring systems, but ignored on the national level. Now dubbed "Supergerms", they spread without warning and seemingly without official notices since they are infections instead of diseases. The government is taking advantage of this technicality. An ICU nurse at Bethesda Naval in Washington DC leaves work feeling under the weather. Within 24 hours she is in a community hospital, intubated, with Acinetobacter baumannii. It was determined that the bacteria were acquired from a patient at work. She succumbed to the infection quickly and with no fan fare. The story went silent. At Brook Army Medical Center in Texas a soldier fights for his life, as his combat wounds are made worse by infections the doctors can't seem to handle. The only reason his story is known is that his civilian girl friend speaks up for him. This outbreak that is spreading nation wide is largely due to the war in Iraq, and because of a legal technicality in reporting, the military and CDC will not discuss it publicly. More people come forward, bit by bit, telling stories of how the hospital played down their infection. The one person who could have done something about it, "Rep. Dennis Moore" has walked away from the issue deciding it wasn't worth getting into even after what he had seen on a visit to Walter Reed. This silent killer is continuing to spread, and to an indifferent country until it's YOUR turn. These bacteria will grow out of control in the near future as it spreads through neglect. Every VAMC in this country that had a soldier from Iraq in it is contaminated with MDR AB, as simple as a doorknob or privacy curtain to pass it on. Doctors often work at VA hospitals and community hospitals also. As long as it doesn't have to be reported it will not be. You're on your own America, until you say enough is enough. Focus On Acinetobacter Surveillance Comments posted March 4th 2006 By September 2004 the Department of Defense had collected 934 positive Acinetobacter baumannii cultures from 432 persons. This reported from the Navy Environmental Health Center in Bethesda. On September 21st, 2004 the Armed Forces Epidemiology Board met. They talked about Acinetobacter baumannii with 350 colonized soldiers as well as 200 infections. Yet, the CDC / DOD only announced 102 infection cases in the November 19th, 2004 MWMR report: 85 of the cases were OIF/OEF Landstuhl Regional Medical Center 33 Walter Reed Army Medical Center 45 U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort 11 National Naval Medical Center 8 Brooke Army Medical Center 5 By August 2005 Forbes reported that at least 280 cases of infection had been reported. The DOD stodgily stood by public statements of 112 infections. The argument from CHPPM / MEDCOM is that colonized soldiers are a different story from infected soldiers. A colonized soldier however is still a carrier. CHPPM is also trying to say since this is just an infection they don't have to report it like infectious disease. They are not cooperating to provide any updated statistics on it because of a directive at MEDCOM stating they do not want to expose military vulnerabilities publicly. So its going to take a Congressional Inquiry to CHPPM in order to get a true idea of just how many cases of Acinetobacter baumannii there are in the military. That and how many are carriers. Spreading this infection from one hospital to another in America. Here is one example: A soldier dies in VA care at the James A. Haley Medical Center in Tampa Florida, in December 2004. He had extensive surgery in Iraq and was medivac'd to Landstuhl, Germany, Bethesda MD, and finally JHMC. This was head, chest, and abdomen trauma. After his death it was determined that he had tested positive twice for the Acinetobacter, which would have changed the clinical outcome if they had treated for it. (Page 22 of IG report) What about the 7 cases at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii? Why were Chief Warrant Officer 3 Claude Boushey Sr.'s case and others not discussed? That was July 2004. In other cases, family members cannot get the medical records of their deceased soldiers. Many have died from non-combat injuries that the Pentagon is unwilling to disclose information about even to the parents. These stall tactics keep anyone but the military from knowing how many died of complications that the Acinetobacter baumannii contributed too. More than likely OIF troops walking into any Veteran Affairs Medical Center are possible colonized cases that contaminate that facility. This is a national threat to public health safety that the Department of Defense has taken a very lax position on. What the public doesn't know wont hurt them, which is certainly not true with a drug resistant bacteria that can be passed with as little as a handshake. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Superbug hits Canadian soldiers injured in suicide bombing Thu, 23 Feb 2006 Master Cpl. Paul Franklin of Halifax lost a leg, Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey from Edmonton had devastating head injuries, and Pte. William Salikin of Grand Forks, B.C., also suffered a head injury. The three soldiers were first taken to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. When they left a week later, all three men were infected with drug-resistant bacteria. Medical specialists aren't certain whether most infections started in the battlefield or the hospital. "It's thought that they may have gotten it from going through the hospital in Landstuhl," said Lt.-Col. Henry Flaman, a Canadian military doctor in Edmonton. Acinetobacter baumannii has become one of the most common sources of infections among American troops wounded in Iraq. The bacteria are found in soil and water in Iraq. When the microbes enter traumatic wounds in the battlefield, the superbug can cause serious damage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Iraq Infection Forbes Magazine - August 2nd 2005 NEW YORK - Military doctors are fighting to contain an outbreak of a potentially deadly drug-resistant bacteria that apparently originated in the Iraqi soil. So far at least 280 people, mostly soldiers returning from the battlefield, have been infected, a number of whom contracted the illness while in U.S. military hospitals. Most of the victims are relatively young troops who were injured by the land mines, mortars and suicide bombs that have permeated the Iraq conflict. No active-duty soldiers have died from the infections, but five extremely sick patients who were in the same hospitals as the injured soldiers have died after being infected with the bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii. Note: The military knew there was no acinetobacter baumannii in the soil in Iraq at the time they did these interviews. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acinetobacter baumannii Infections Military Medical Facilities Treating Injured U.S. Service Members, 2002--2004 From January 1, 2002 to August 31, 2004, military health officials identified 102 patients with blood cultures of Acinetobacter baumannii at military medical facilities treating service members injured in Afghanistan and the Iraq/Kuwait region. Most of the infections were reported from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany 33 patients: 32 OIF/OEF casualties, one non-OIF/OEF, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), District of Columbia 45 patients: 29 OIF/OEF casualties, 16 non-OIF/OEF. The Acinetobacter baumanii strain was isolated to the soil in Iraq, and enters through dirty battle field wounds or serious infections ( Pneumonia ). The British Health Protection Agency was the first to publicly identify this in March 2003, and DOD waited till November 2004 to recognize it after the CDC posted the findings of the 102 cases. __________________________________________________________________________ Cases of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis at Walter Reed Army Hospital also showed up with Acinetobacter baumannii. One person from there wants to meet others who were there to share stories. Marcie Hascall Clark junglem@yahoo.com Editors note: This website is a continuation of the original Acinetobacter baumannii site acinetobacter.org which belonged to us and was taken by the technical advisor. The original site remains at www.acinetobacter.net. The site you will currently find at www.acinetobacter.org is our stolen site. We apologize for any confusion. |
| Acinetobacter baumannii |
| The Acinetobacter Threat Think MRSA is scary? Since the mid-2000s, a more environmentally persistent, increasingly antibiotic- resistant infection has spread through-out western Europe and the U.S. The arrival of extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter at U.S. hospitals caught public health officials off guard. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, these infections were increasingly rare, with declining infection rates. But in late 2003, U.S. Army physicians began noting a high rate of antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter infections among soldiers wounded and initially treated in Iraq — and sporadic reports began to suggest the infections were spreading from wounded soldiers to other patients at military health care facilities. Cross infection from injured soldiers and contractors was recognized as a "particular problem" in the U.K. But the U.S. military has consistently downplayed the risk of spread. Isolation and infection control procedures, promoted on paper, were widely ignored in clinical practice. By 2007, Acinetobacter had become one of the most common gram- negative hospital infections. Now it is invading nursing homes. Recent studies tie Acinetobacter drug resistance to infection lethality, contrasting sharply with early military research, which suggested Acinetobacter infections do not kill. |
| epiNewswire for continuing Acinetobacter research news |
A 63 kb genomic resistance
island found in a multidrug-
resistant Acinetobacter
baumannii isolate of European
clone I from 1977.
AdeABC-mediated efflux and
tigecycline MICs for epidemic
clones of Acinetobacter
baumannii.
Changes in the Incidences of
Multidrug‐Resistant and
Extensively Drug‐Resistant
Organisms Isolated in a Military
Medical Center
Acinetobacter baumannii:
Emergence of a Successful
Pathogen
island found in a multidrug-
resistant Acinetobacter
baumannii isolate of European
clone I from 1977.
AdeABC-mediated efflux and
tigecycline MICs for epidemic
clones of Acinetobacter
baumannii.
Changes in the Incidences of
Multidrug‐Resistant and
Extensively Drug‐Resistant
Organisms Isolated in a Military
Medical Center
Acinetobacter baumannii:
Emergence of a Successful
Pathogen
| Iraqibacter |