Bacterium infecting troops from Iraq, Afghanistan

[Moloch]

SAN ANTONIO- Government health officials are urging stronger infection control procedures in military hospitals following a number of infections among troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, which is resistant to most antibiotic drugs, could be infecting troops on the battlefield and ending up in field hospitals along with casualties from conflicts in the Middle East, a doctor says. The infection's spread in hospitals prompted health officials to stress better infection control methods.

Dr. David Dooley, director of infection control at Brooke Army Medical Center, and several other military physicians wrote on the growing number of such infections in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a scientific journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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