Rare Blood Infection Surfaces in Injured U.S. Soldiers

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.

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