New Bacterial Infection Linked to Military (important!)

[donsu]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Germs/story?id=4233448&page=1


Report: Troops Transmitted Mysterious Bacteria That Has Killed 7 And Affected Military And Civilians Alike


-snip-

Doctors have linked the bacterium acinetobacter baumannii to at least seven deaths, as well as to loss of limbs and other severe ailments, according to the report, which found the bacterium has spread quickly since the war in Afghanistan began in the fall of 2001

Acinetobacter baumannii has been found in military hospitals in Germany, the Washington, D.C., area and Texas -- the primary destinations of wounded service members from the two war zones. And it has now spread to civilians, according to the report.

-snip-

Dr. Timothy Endy, a retired Army colonel now teaching infectious disease medicine at the Upstate Medical University of the State University of New York, said the outbreak might be the largest of its kind to spread through hospitals in history.
-snip-
-------------------------


historical

smirk will be remembered

so how quickly is this spreading?

[sam sarrha]

1. link from comments>>

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Germs/comments?type=story&id=4233448

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5345a1.htm

http://www.iraqinfections.org



http://www.acinetobacterbaumannii.orgwww.iraqinfections.orgwww.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/accent/epaper

[LaurenG]

2. Hand washing and disinfecting areas where carriers have been are helpful

evidently it doesn't die off quickly on hard surfaces. It is treatable.

This opportunistic pathogen expresses a myriad of factors that could play a role in human pathogenesis. Among these factors are the attachment to and persistence on solid surfaces, the acquisition of essential nutrients such as iron, the adhesion to epithelial cells and their subsequent killing by apoptosis, and the production and/or secretion of enzymes and toxic products that damage host tissues. However, very little is known about the molecular nature of most of these processes and factors and almost nothing has been shown with regard to their role in bacterial virulence and the pathogenesis of serious infectious diseases. Fortunately, some of these gaps can now be filled by testing appropriate isogenic derivatives in relevant animal models that mimic the infections in humans, particularly the outcome of deadly pneumonia. Such an approach should provide new and relevant information on the virulence traits of this normally underestimated bacterial human pathogen.<1>

Control and Treatment of Infections

Multi-resistant A. baumannii infections are currently treated with imipenem and an older class of drugs known as polymyxins. These, along with stricter infection-control measures, such as monitored hand washing, have lowered infection rates in some military hospitals.<6>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acinetobacter_baumannii

[zonmoy]

3. better question is

is this a biological weapon that we used in other countries that has come back to bite us in the ass.

[Benhurst]

4. Reminiscent of The War of the Worlds. A tiny bacterium challenges

The World's Only Superpower.

[Bluebear]

5. So. Will the Concerned Women go apeshit on the militray as they did with gays?

'EPIDEMIC FEARED--GAYS MAY SPREAD DEADLY STAPH INFECTION TO GENERAL POPULATION, shouted a press release from the Concerned Women for America, a conservative public-policy group.'

http://www.gaypasg.org/GayPASG/PressClippings/2008/Jan/A%20New%20%91Gay%20Disease%92.htm

[LaurenG]

6. I had never seen that before - how disgusting.

human beings can be dreadful when filled with fear and no education/knowledge.

[jwirr]

7. Shadows of the influenza epidemic of 1918 that was probably

brought back by returning veterans.