What could be worse is if the government decides that any injury from the bacteria is not related to direct combat and tries to get out of paying compensation for any loss of use related to the infection. I can almost guarantee that will come up at some point.
It won't fly in the long run, but that don't mean they won't try it.
This was a very well written article with facts and details...
Good to know progress is being made in research to combat the bacteria...not like the military adn the medical staff don't have enough with which to deal...
This was a very well written article with facts and details...
True. I was surprised by the detail. Glad they gave such efforts in reporting for a change. It is sad that our wounded brother's and sister's have this now to contend with. It is bad enough to lose one limb over there, then get back and lose the other from bacteria. Prayers are going up for all in harms way.
"During 2004, the outbreak's worst point so far, some 30 percent of all patients returning from Iraq and Afghanistan tested positive for acinetobacter. Four years into the fight, up to 20 percent of those returning wounded still face biological onslaught by this bloodstream insurgent."
Insurgent? I thought that was a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government. Call this thing what it is, sounds like a virus or some kind of phathogen which is a specific agent(as a bacterium)and they can be deadly because they cause diseases. Every country have them floating around in the air or in the soil, thats why we take shots before going to these places, we even have our own here in America. One word, quarantine. The next thing you know, they'll try to say that it's something that Saddam created in that mobile lab he had. By not calling it what it is does not make it any less harmful to the troops. They know what it is, make an antitoxin and administer it to the troops.
"Moreover, say scientists, nothing in the character of the outbreak would indicate that it originated as a result of intentional biological attack."
Biological warfare? Not beyond the realm of possibility. Remember, the radical muslims want to kill the "infidels" anyway possible.
Whatever the case, it needs to be addressed quickly. It already appears to be infectious enough to be of real concern since five of the seven deaths were non-combat related casualties infected at hospitals. As a retiree in the VA system it is of particular concern to me, (as it should be for anyone who uses either VA or military medical facilities).
When I was a young child, I had to be on an antibiotic for an extended period of time. In my late teens, I was given that same antibiotic and developed an allergic reaction. That's another problem with them. Not only can the bacteria become resistant, the patient can develop an allergy to them and cause further problems. What a headache.
Originally posted by OneThreeMarine: What could be worse is if the government decides that any injury from the bacteria is not related to direct combat and tries to get out of paying compensation for any loss of use related to the infection. I can almost guarantee that will come up at some point.
It won't fly in the long run, but that don't mean they won't try it.
Originally posted by 12520504: When I was a young child, I had to be on an antibiotic for an extended period of time. In my late teens, I was given that same antibiotic and developed an allergic reaction. That's another problem with them. Not only can the bacteria become resistant, the patient can develop an allergy to them and cause further problems. What a headache.
You allergy is probably related to the trace elements of antibiotics in the meats you ate.
If the result was only a headache, we wouldn't be writing about it.
I am no doctor or medic; but I had some experience dealing with wounds and infections resistant to anti-biotics. Back then, a sequence of washing and scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide, followed by a covering of iodine and a bandage soaked in iodine, knocked the hell out of the infection. In effect it quarterized the wounds.
This won't work for internal injuries, of course. This was a treatment going back at least to World War I. Just a thought. I leave it to medical professionals to comment.
This is an evil thing and this country should use its scientific might to attack, isolate and distroy it. Just one more reason to leave this horrible part of the world.
Originally posted by popsiq: Abnother indirect result of the Vietnam experience where it was thought, erroneously, that antibiotics could negate the need for anti-sepsis.
The result antibiotic-resistant bacteria of all the ills of mankind, and a few that weren't particularly harmful, but are now.
Bubonic plague has resurfaced, as have cholera and typhus, one of these days a 'bug' will show up to make the red horseman look like a nice guy.
I was stationed in Kuwait during the Invasion. One night I tripped over some sandbags in the road and fell hard forward on my hands and knees. I had to pick out tiny stones and such from the wounds on my hands and knees,and did the first aid myself. You would not believe how long it took these scrapes and "strawberries" to heal. After a month, I started pouring hydrogen peroxide on it 2x daily to draw the poisons out. It was over two months before they were all good again.
The story says they don't think it's in the soil, but I felt that I never reacted that way back home. Also, all of us were given Cipro tablets to take in case of chemical warfare attack. Some folks were self-medicating themselves with that stuff when they caught the "crud" that everyone new to the base got. Actually, I wish I had because whatever was going around (respiratory) was BAD stuff and knocked me for a loop for several weeks (no luck getting sympathy at the clinic, there was a war going on!). I'm glad they are probing into this more. Foreign soil does present problems.
Prevention is key! There are many ways to contract acinetobacter baumannii infection. It can be be spread through the use of cell phones, escalator hand rails, almost any object that large groups of people touch, for example your hands. It is so necessary to constanly wash yor hands in a hospital setting. This bacteria affects mostly the weak and injured. Healthy people can withstand the bacteria. This is not a war related issue. It is an issue of mindset. Constant rememering to wash hands and to keep things sterile in a hospital setting and even where food is prepared. It can't be stressed enough the importance of how filthy the exchange of handshaking can be and then not washing.
Just makes me feel small.... Even though we can shoot down a satellite moving at 18 gozillyen mph or take down and change an entire country in weeks, God has a way to showing us our most basic fragility. Look to the Heavens boys and girls....
