Coming to a hospital near you!
Mapping the spread of Acinetobacter baumannii
Multiple, Extremely and Completely Drug Resistant
Acinetobacter baumannii
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.
Mapping the spread of Acinetobacter baumannii
Multiple, Extremely and Completely Drug Resistant
Acinetobacter baumannii
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 in Iraq |
