An unexpectedly 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 (news - web sites), 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 (news - web sites).
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.
"This organism is very widespread in the environment, and some of these patients are arriving with infections," said Maj. Paul Scott, a doctor in the Army's center for health promotion and preventive medicine.
Scott said there was no evidence that biochemical agents played a role in spreading the infection.
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 and quarantine the infected.
Development of better drugs 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 because of its high toxicity.
The injured soldiers are being treated with a spectrum of drugs and are expected to recover from their infections.
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.