Hundreds of U.S. Troops in Iraq Infected with Potentially Deadly Drug Resistant Bacteria According to Forbes.com.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Hundreds of U.S. soldiers have been infected with a potentially deadly drug resistant bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii Acinetobacter baumannii is a species of pathogenic bacteria which forms opportunistic infections.[1] There have been many reports of drug-resistant A. baumannii infections among American soldiers wounded in Iraq. , that apparently originated in Iraqi soil, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. 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 in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. 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 tenfold Adjective 1. having ten times as many or as much 2. composed of ten parts Adverb by ten times as many or as much Adj. 1. to $200,000. Infections of the bone, bloodstream blood·stream n. The flow of blood through the circulatory system of an organism. bloodstream the blood flowing through the circulatory system in the living body. 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." |
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