Resilient Infections Worry Military Doctors

[Barrett808]

Source: Washington Post

Resilient Infections Worry Military Doctors
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 5, 2007; Page B01

Like most patients in the infectious disease ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Jon Harris has an "A" written next to his name on the white board by the nursing desk. The 23-year-old Army specialist had a leg amputated below the knee after a roadside bomb attack in Iraq.

But the capital letter indicates another medical problem that increasingly worries military doctors -- an infection from a resilient bug known as Acinetobacter.

Harris, who arrived at Walter Reed on April 10, said he is convinced he picked up the infection when he fell to the ground in the attack. "I got dirty from being dropped six to seven feet from the truck," the soldier from Missouri said one recent day.

However, military doctors say they don't know exactly what's causing infections such as the one Harris has, and they are racing to find effective treatments. Four types of bacteria, they say, are causing severe and hard-to-treat infections for many troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan: Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus.

The infections have occurred in more than 600 injured troops from the two war zones who have had an arm or leg amputated, doctors tracking the cases say, and in other troops with lesser wounds. Such infections also can occur among civilians with traumatic wounds or other health problems, doctors say, but the high rate of infection for injured troops is raising concerns.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050401976.html

[Horse with no Name]

1. My guess is that we are experimenting with biological weapons and some of them are getting loose

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=688025&mesg_id=688025

[babylonsister]

2. What are we doing to these people? And how many Iraqis are dying

from these infections, and we're not even hearing about them? :cry:

[lovuian]

3. its going to be like in Ancient times

if you get scratched with a blade you may die from infection

[iamjoy]

4. It's Not Just In The Military

antibiotic resistent infections are becoming more prevelant amongst "civilians" too. There are a couple of proposed reasons including the fact that antibiotics have been overprescribed (given when they shouldn't have been) or not properly taken (people not finishing the whole course).

BUT, it also may just be evolution. These bugs are evolving, getting stronger. Now normally, we should be developing stronger/better antibiotics to keep up. But we are not - the reason is that antibiotics aren't nearly as profitable for big pharma as statins and little blue pills. So, they don't put much into trying to develop antibiotics. OF course big pharma is driven by profit. To me, this cries out to the fact that our government must fund the R&D of new classes of antibiotics.

[rainbow4321]

6. Hospitals, nursing homes, jails, nail salons

All around here in N Texas have been hit w/ MRSA. Dallas County jail, to be exact. And more than one report of people getting MRSA infections on their legs after getting a pedicure at nail salons (and these were just middle age, otherwise healthy women). At one point, I believe, it was found in a school locker room.
I can tell you from working in a hospital, it is rampant among the elderly that we admit/re-admit. Even if they have a remote history of it, we put them in isolation.

A teenage boy just died recently around here from MRSA of the lungs. His father was hospitalized shortly after with the same.

Given the conditions at Walter Reed, it (and the other bacteria) are probably from the ceiling to the floor to all the equipment. Some of the bugs can live forever on hard surfaces if they are not properly wiped down.

[Horse with no Name]

7. Here in East Texas it is rampant among pedi patients

I've never seen anything like it.

[rainbow4321]

8. I imagine daycares can probably be added to the list...

Our pedi unit has a playroom...I've always wondered why parents would let their kids go PLAY in it given that the toys are most likely covered in bugs galore. While the playroom is "straightened up" whenever I float to the pedi, the toys are never officially wiped down with any kind of anti-bug stuff. Ditto for parents who bring their neonatal ICU/stepdown babies stuffed animals and blankets...and then take everything HOME with them once the kids are discharged. Blah. I won't even sit on my furniture til I change out of my scrubs and shower!


We also had a nurse some down with such a severe case of MRSA that she ended up in the ICU. When she tried to say that she caught it on the job the hospital's response was "prove it".

[Horse with no Name]

9. We took our playroom out

Things were so bad this year that we locked down our Pedi unit. No children under 16 were allowed to visit--no exceptions and only two visitors at a time. In this area, the ONLY place that everyone goes is to Walmart. We have pretty much unofficially decided that the shopping carts at Walmart are covered in these germs.
That is terrible about your colleague. Prove it, indeed.:mad:

[JanusAscending]

14. That's what made me a widow!

My husband went in for emergency gall bladder surgery in May of 2003. They did a non intrusive laperoscomy type, because of his age. They then proceeded to put him in a room on a post op floor where two doors down was a patient with MRSA (big yellow sign on the door) Same nurses attending my husband. His room, that he was in for 5 days before his kidneys shut down, had not even been swept clean, or his bathroom cleaned the whole time he was in there. He developed an "Illius"(bowel went to sleep0 where the MRSA infection just thrived that whole time. His primary care Dr. ordered tests, which the hospital lab refused to do, because they claimed he couldn't "possibly have contracted what they were looking for in the hospital." All the while we are waiting for the results, they had to put him on a central line, his body "blew up like JABBA the HUT" like if you stuck him with a pin he'd pop like a balloon!!! He was put into an induced coma for over a month!! Believe it or not he pulled through this and was sent to a nursing home. Complete with huge bed sores from not being moved while he was comatose and full of fluid. He needed to be transferred 3X a week to the hospital for dialysis, where he suffered cardiac arrest during a treatment. They brought him back with paddles and CPR ,sent him to the ER where I saw him the final time, and signed a DNR because his mind was altered. He had another arrest and was dead the next morning. This is one deadly bug, and no antibiotic they gave him worked. I HATE HOSPITALS, needless to say, and pray that I never need one and can just die in my sleep!!

[Morgana LaFey]

12. Our own DemoTex has one right now

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x808962

[Morgana LaFey]

13. You know, this is a good place to mention that

there are some natural remedies which could be helpful here:

* colloidal silver
* essential oils -- several different ones have strong antiobiotic properties

I myself had a cold recently -- my first in a very long time because I use herbs to knock 'em dead once I notice the first symptoms, but this one was "special." I might have been able to ward it off had I been more aggressive with my herbal therapies but i was a little relucant to push the envelope. Eventually the majority of the cold went away, but there remained a sore throat, sorta mild, but very intrasigent. FINALLY I used some therapeutic grade essential oils -- a few drops of a blend known for its antibiotic properties in water a couple of times a day, plus several topical applications of the blend plus a couple of drops oregano. That sore throat was GONE in a day and a half. At last. Very inexpensively, too (esp. as compared to doctor's visits + pharmaceuticals). I'm sold. If anyone wants more info, PM me.

[pinto]

5. from the same article:

Acinetobacter is found in soil and can live on open surfaces for a number of days, enabling it to spread. It is rare for healthy people to become infected, but medical experts say that patients on ventilators can be vulnerable.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa thrives in moist environments and is a threat to patients with several kinds of injuries, including burns.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is typically acquired in a hospital setting and is often associated with people with poor nutrition and those with slightly depressed immune systems.

Both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae can live in water, another possible medium for the spread of infection, doctors said.

Some patients with open wounds also seem susceptible to the dangerous Staphylococcus aureus, which is found on skin.

I hope the researchers find an effective set of treatments as quick as possible.

It seems the general conditions on the ground in Iraq, breakdown in public sanitation systems and the horrific wounds that must result from bomb blasts are likely culprits in the number of reported cases.

The article goes on to cite the lack of blood flow to damaged limbs/amputated limbs as a possible complication to treatment, as well.

Not to minimize this at all, but I don't see any implication of bio-weapon contamination or such in this article. The brutality of this misadventure seems plenty cause.

I hope the medical pros get a handle on this in the immediate term and we manage an end to this war as soon as possible.

[Trillo]

10. It appears the Depleted Uranium depresses the immune system. n/t

[Miss Chybil]

11. Two things to say about this... First 1.6 million doesn't seem like enough money.

Two - I bet the reason they won't tell how many people have died from these infections is they don't want to have to adjust the casualty numbers. I'm sure a lot more soldiers die from a lot more things after coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan than the numbers they tell us on the news.