Medical News & Exposé
epi
June 11, 2010 — Traditionally a tropical infection in Asia and South
America, Acinteobacter was first noted in U.S. and western European
hospitals in the 1970s.
Between 1987 and 1996, an average of only 345 hospital-acquired
Acinetobacter infections were reported each year to the U.S. National
Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System.
U.S. Acinetobacter infection rates declined throughout the 1980s and
much of the 1990s. It began to re-emerge in Germany and Turkey,
perhaps as early as the late 1990s.
But in 2004, Army physicians in Europe and the U.S. began noting high
rates of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter infections among returning
soldiers and civilians wounded in Iraq.
Soldiers and contractors called it "Iraqi-bacter."
By 2007, once-rare Acinetobacter infections had become one of the
most common gram-negative, drug-resistant hospital infections in the
U.S. and U.K.
Environmental persistence and poorly-understood modes of transmission
complicat control efforts. The threat posed to healthy individuals remains
unclear, but for the immune-compromised — the elderly, infants, the
traumatized, burn patients and cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy — Acinetobacter has proven to be deadly.
Starting in June 2010, epiNewswire will begin continuing coverage of
Acinetobacter research and will explore military studies and documents
detailing the origins of The Acinetobacter Threat.
Among our first reports are a new meta-analysis showing Acinetobacter
to be an important risk factor in patient deaths due to ventilator-
associated pneumonia (VAP), new evidence that nursing homes and
long-term care facilities are becoming important Acinetobacter reservoirs,
and research demonstrating that drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter
commonly contaminate hospital gloves and gowns, are more easily
spread than other bacterial species, and have colonized some health
care workers' hands.
America, Acinteobacter was first noted in U.S. and western European
hospitals in the 1970s.
Between 1987 and 1996, an average of only 345 hospital-acquired
Acinetobacter infections were reported each year to the U.S. National
Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System.
U.S. Acinetobacter infection rates declined throughout the 1980s and
much of the 1990s. It began to re-emerge in Germany and Turkey,
perhaps as early as the late 1990s.
But in 2004, Army physicians in Europe and the U.S. began noting high
rates of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter infections among returning
soldiers and civilians wounded in Iraq.
Soldiers and contractors called it "Iraqi-bacter."
By 2007, once-rare Acinetobacter infections had become one of the
most common gram-negative, drug-resistant hospital infections in the
U.S. and U.K.
Environmental persistence and poorly-understood modes of transmission
complicat control efforts. The threat posed to healthy individuals remains
unclear, but for the immune-compromised — the elderly, infants, the
traumatized, burn patients and cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy — Acinetobacter has proven to be deadly.
Starting in June 2010, epiNewswire will begin continuing coverage of
Acinetobacter research and will explore military studies and documents
detailing the origins of The Acinetobacter Threat.
Among our first reports are a new meta-analysis showing Acinetobacter
to be an important risk factor in patient deaths due to ventilator-
associated pneumonia (VAP), new evidence that nursing homes and
long-term care facilities are becoming important Acinetobacter reservoirs,
and research demonstrating that drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter
commonly contaminate hospital gloves and gowns, are more easily
spread than other bacterial species, and have colonized some health
care workers' hands.
The Acinetobacter threat
Online Acinetobacter resources
Iraq Infections
Acinetobacter forum
American Contractors in Iraq
Civilian Contractors blog
Florida Infectious Diseases Forum
Iraq Infections
Acinetobacter forum
American Contractors in Iraq
Civilian Contractors blog
Florida Infectious Diseases Forum