Rare Blood Infection Surfaces in Injured U.S. Soldiers

Reuters ^ | 11-18-04 | By Paul Simao

[Oldeconomybuyer]

ATLANTA (Reuters) - An expectedly high number of U.S. soldiers injured in the Middle East and Afghanistan are testing positive for a rare, hard-to-treat blood infection in military hospitals, Army doctors reported on Thursday.

A total of 102 soldiers were found to be infected with the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii. The infections occurred among soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and three other sites between Jan. 1, 2002, and Aug. 31, 2004.

Although it was not known where the soldiers contracted the infections, the Army said the recent surge highlighted a need to improve infection-control in military hospitals.

Eighty-five of the bloodstream infections occurred among soldiers serving in Iraq, the area around Kuwait and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army said in a report published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Military hospitals typically see about one case per year.

Army investigators said they did not know whether the soldiers contracted the infections on the battlefield, during medical treatment on the front line or following evacuation to Walter Reed, Landstuhl and other military medical locations.

"Although some of the patients identified in this report had evidence of bloodstream infections at the time of admission to military medical facilities, whether the infections were acquired from environmental sources in the field or during treatment at other military medical facilities is unknown," the Army said.

A. baumannii, which is found in water and soil and resistant to many types of antibiotics, surfaces occasionally in hospitals, often spread among patients in intensive care units.

The infection was also found in soldiers with traumatic injuries to their arms, legs and extremities during the Vietnam War.

Spread of the infection is often halted when health-care workers wash their hands and those of their patients with alcohol swabs, actively monitor those with wounds to the extremities and promptly identify the infected.

Development of better drugs also is needed to help contain future outbreaks of the infection, Army officials said. In some cases, the only effective antibiotic is colistin, an older drug that is rarely prescribed today because of its high toxicity.

Health-care providers in the United States are urged to watch for A. baumannii infections among soldiers who have been recently treated at military hospitals, especially those who were in intensive care units.

[counterpunch]

Biological warfare, anyone?

[lilylangtree]

This occurred during the first Iraqi war. Someone, unbeknownst to our forces, is using biological weapons.

[Giliad]

It's probably not bio warfare. Just one of the hazards of treating people in the field. I've had 3 surgeries done in army hospitals. It's a wonder anyone survives. They're not the cleanest hospitals around. :)

[TommyDale]

My son-in-law, who served in the Air Force in Kuwait in the mid-1990s is now a carrier of the Antibody E. It never showed up before. Now the expected grandchild is carrying it as well. I assumed that it may be from the various vaccines they must take.

[Rabble]

"This occurred during the first Iraqi war. Someone, unbeknownst to our forces, is using biological weapons" OR it isn't being reported for some unknown reason. If so I wonder what that reason could be?

[Strategerist]

This occurred during the first Iraqi war. Someone, unbeknownst to our forces, is using biological weapons.

In World War II there was an unbelievable roster of weird infections and tropical diseases that our soldiers got.

None were caused by biological warfare.

Fight in odd places and you'll get odd diseases and infections.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

BBC: 

Gulf war syndrome may have been caused by exposure to the nerve gas sarin, according to reports.

New Scientist magazine has reported a leak of a US inquiry into the ill-health of veterans of the 1991 war.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs' Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses is due to publish its findings next week.

But the magazine said researchers have found neural damage consistent with the nerve agent used by Saddam Hussein.

[snip]

[Diddle E. Squat]

An expectedly high number of U.S. soldiers

Reuters, sloppy journalism in every aspect...

[Doctor Stochastic]

Castro once claimed that the CIA was using biological warfare on Cuba. It turned out, after some study, that the Cuban mercenaries returning from Africa (and other faraway places) were bringing back diseases rare in Cuba.

[Chemist_Geek]

Fight in odd places and you'll get odd diseases and infections.

Unauthorized use of logic, common sense, and Occam's Razor in a FReeper discussion, ten yard penalty, second down!

;-)

[MineralMan]

"Fight in odd places and you'll get odd diseases and infections."

Bingo! But you're probably wasting your time, trying to make sense in this thread.

If the Iraqis were fighting here, they'd be getting "foreign" infections, too. It's a problem whenever people get injured far from where they live.

[af_vet_rr]

Fight in odd places and you'll get odd diseases and infections.

This same disease popped up in Vietnam (and probably in the Pacific in WWII as somebody pointed out). It's easy to blame it on fighting in some odd place somewhere, but I sometimes wonder if these sorts of things occur because we get people in the medical field who get...lax. No offense to anybody in the medical field - what I mean by lax, is that we can literally go a few decades without dealing with large-scale casualty situations where heavy trauma and poor sanitary conditions come together. If your not use to working in that environment, then your going to miss a few things. We've all seen military hospital/medical facilities that were not the best. I imagine the situation there makes things much worse.

[joesnuffy]

Vietnam was the world's largest incubator...a giant pool of fertile medium filled with exotic cultures and the temperature and humidity to grow just about every pathogen on the planet..

And the perfect place for these same pathogens to mutant against and overcome nearly every antibiotic or vaccine formed against them...

Bacteria, fungus, and virus are no less the soldier's nemesis than bullets grenades rockets or mines..

God please bless our troops and heal them of their injuries and diseases

imo

[Freebird Forever]

Is it possible that this bacteria is transmitted by insect bites?

[blam]

"Is it possible that this bacteria is transmitted by insect bites?"

That's my suspicion...Gulf War Syndrome?

[twigs]

I sometimes wonder if these sorts of things occur because we get people in the medical field who get...lax. No offense

Apparently so:

"Spread of the infection is often halted when health-care workers wash their hands and those of their patients with alcohol swabs, actively monitor those with wounds to the extremities and promptly identify the infected."