New Bacterial Infection Linked to Military

February 10, 2008

There are many interesting comments which can be accessed on the webpage

under the article. blessings, Shan

Report: Troops Transmitted Mysterious Bacteria That Has Killed 7 And

Affected Military And Civilians Alike By JOHN HENDREN Feb. 8, 2008 Troops

arriving

home from Iraq and Afghanistan have been carrying a mysterious, deadly

bacteria, according to a new magazine report.

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.

" The outbreak began traveling with patients or nonpatients from Iraq all the

way back to Walter Reed, " said Dr. Rox Anderson at Harvard Medical School.

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.

Doctors quoted in the magazine article agreed. " Of the infectious disease

problems that come out of the conflict, it is the most important complication

we've seen, " Dr. Glenn Wortmann, acting chief of infectious disease at Walter

Reed Army Medical Center, said in the February issue of Proceedings,

published by the U.S. Naval Institute, a professional organization focused on

naval

issues.

The report was released to rs of the magazine this week.

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