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Hundreds of U.S. Troops in Iraq Infected With Potentially Deadly Drug Resistant Bacteria According to Forbes.Com

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have been infected with a potentially deadly drug resistant bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii, that apparently originated in Iraqi soil, according to Forbes.com Medical & Science Writer Matthew Herper. Visit www.forbes.com for this exclusive report, "The Iraq Infection."

According to Herper's report, "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." While no active duty soldiers have died from the infection, five deaths did occur among extremely sick patients who were in the same hospitals as the injured soldiers who were infected with the bacteria.

More people carry the bacteria than are infected, so military hospitals are taking extreme care to prevent spread of the infection. The total cost of antibiotics to treat such infections has skyrocketed. The annual bill for the drugs at one hospital has increased tenfold to $200,000. Infections of the bone, bloodstream or internal organs can complicate care.

Three drugs have been used to fight the infections, with varying success:

-- Imipenem, which carries a risk of seizure

-- Amikacin, not effective if the bones are infected

-- Colistin, no longer used because of its toxic effect on the kidneys

Herper also explores what researchers are doing to try to determine how the bacteria came to infect hundred of soldiers, in "Military Chases Mystery Infection."

Source: Business Wire

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