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Hardy Bacteria Plagues Military Hospitals

Scientists track highly drug-resistant infection that preys on wounded

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 30, 2007 3:29 PM CDT

(Newser) – It runs rampant in military hospitals, not virulent enough to infect the healthy, but highly resistant to many antibiotics and capable of lying dormant for years. Dozens infected by it have died, but it may not be the actual killer. The strange bacterium Acinetobacter has scientists scratching their heads, the LA Times reports.

Little known until recently, Acinetobacter has infected hundreds of wounded soldiers in Iraq over the past few years, sending scientists on a hunt for answers. They now suspect military hospital conditions as the culprit: Infection-control measures such as hand-washing are more slack and patient trauma more severe in hectic field hospitals, creating a perfect storm for the bug.

An injured patient rests at a hospital in Dahuk, 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, after four simultaneous suicide bombing attacks on Tuesday aimed at communities of a small Kurdish sect in northwestern Iraq, killing at least 200 people and wounding 300 more,...
An injured patient rests at a hospital in Dahuk, 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, after four simultaneous suicide bombing attacks on Tuesday aimed at...   (Associated Press)
An injured man is treated at a hospital in Dahuk, 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007. Four simultaneous suicide bombing attacks on Tuesday aimed at communities of a small Kurdish sect in northwestern Iraq, killed at least 200 people and wounded 300 more,...
An injured man is treated at a hospital in Dahuk, 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007. Four simultaneous suicide bombing attacks on Tuesday aimed at communities...   (Associated Press)
A U.S. Army soldier from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division secures a checkpoint in the Amariyah neighborhood in west Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
A U.S. Army soldier from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division secures a checkpoint in the Amariyah neighborhood in west Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, Aug....   (Associated Press)
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