US Military Unwittingly Evolved SUPERPATHOGEN In Iraqi Hospitals

[kpete]

WIRED SET TO REVEAL US UNWITTING EVOLVED SUPERPATHOGEN IN IRAQ HOSPITALS...

Wired to report US unwittingly evolved superpathogen in Iraqi combat hopsitals

John Byrne
Published: Sunday January 21, 2007

A drug-resistant bacteria that is infecting wounded US soldiers in Iraq -- and has spread to civilian hospitals in parts of Europe -- accidentally evolved in US military hospitals in Iraq, Wired Magazine will report in a massive expose on Monday, RAW STORY has learned.

The several thousand word expose is set to bring uncomfortable new light to the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii that Pentagon officials previously said was likely a product of Iraqi soil.

"By creating the most heroic and efficient means of saving lives in the history of warfare, the Pentagon had accidentally invented a machine for accelerating bacterial evolution and was airlifting the pathogens halfway around the world," the magazine reveals.

The story will go live online early Monday, newsroom sources say, and appear in February's print edition.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Wired_to_report_US_unwittingly_evolved_0121.html

[lonestarnot]

1. How did we "accidentally" do this? With antibacterial soap?

[Warren DeMontague]

2. It accidentally WHAT?

"accidentally evolved"

No, no, that can't be right. We all know that evolution is a "myth" and a "hoax". It had to be intelligently designed.

[originalpckelly]

3. I believe I've heard about this before...

but at the it hadn't spread to other civilian hospitals. Damn, this shit is evolving quickly.

[mmonk]

4. They better get a handle on it quickly.

[WinkyDink]

8. Too late. "(H)ospitals in Europe" = BAD NEWS.

[mmonk]

12. Yes, it's too bad in that regard. I was mainly thinking in terms

of an antibiotic that can work.

[ConsAreLiars]

5. The imperialist mind-set of "massive overkill" is used in hospitals as well

as in the attempts at military conquests. In both cases it creates a stronger and more deadly counterforce. More examples of the "kill them all" attitude, and blowback, at work.

(edit transposition)

[Ilsa]

6. Here is a report on another site:

http://www.acinetobacter.org/

The Battle over multiple drug resistant microbes: MRSA, Acinetobacter, C. Difficile, etc. "Irresponsible medicine"
Early this year an outbreak of MDR Acinetobacter Baumannii swept over Arizona, 236 cases in just two months. It was reported by the state disease monitoring systems, but ignored on the national level.

Now dubbed "Supergerms", they spread without warning and seemingly without official notices since they are infections instead of diseases. The government is taking advantage of this technicality.

An ICU nurse at Bethesda Naval in Washington DC leaves work feeling under the weather. Within 24 hours she is in a community hospital, intubated, with Acinetobacter Baumannii. It was determined that the bacteria were acquired from a patient at work. She succumbed to the infection quickly and with no fan fare. The story went silent.

At Brook Army Medical Center in Texas a soldier fights for his life, as his combat wounds are made worse by infections the doctors can't seem to handle. The only reason his story is known is that his civilian girl friend speaks up for him.

This outbreak that is spreading nation wide is largely due to the war in Iraq, and because of a legal technicality in reporting, the military and CDC will not discuss it publicly.

More people come forward, bit by bit, telling stories of how the hospital played down their infection. The one person who could have done something about it, "Rep. Dennis Moore" has walked away from the issue deciding it wasn't worth getting into even after what he had seen on a visit to Walter Reed.

SNIP Also more on the CDC not making this info available to the public.

[Ilsa]

11. And here's another link:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jul/14/ln/ln01a.html

After a helicopter crash in Iraq, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Claude Boushey Sr. underwent surgery in Germany for a broken back and to insert a titanium rod into his left leg.

Moved later to Tripler Army Medical Center, the Schofield Barracks pilot found out something else: He had tested positive for antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as Acinetobacter baumanii.

"I was kind of alarmed. I was like, what is it?" said Boushey, a 1983 Campbell High School graduate. "It took me a week just to pronounce it."

The so-called superbug, a peculiarity of the Iraq war, can cause infections, fever and pneumonia.

A spate of about 50 cases involving soldiers evacuated from Iraq was noticed in 2003 aboard the Navy hospital ship Comfort. Two Iraqi patients died of the infection.

SNIP

Fraser said the information she received was that 15 percent of the soldiers being screened at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington tested positive for the bacteria.

SNIP

[TechBear_Seattle]

17. And the Wikipedia article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acinetobacter_baumannii

It is mostly about bacteria of the genus Acinetobacter and not A. baumannii specifically.

[The2ndWheel]

7. There's a lesson in there somewhere

"By creating the most heroic and efficient means of saving lives in the history of warfare, the Pentagon had accidentally invented a machine for accelerating bacterial evolution and was airlifting the pathogens halfway around the world,"

If the story is indeed accurate, there is a sentence that should be looked at on many levels.

[WinkyDink]

9. 100,000 Americans dying from hospital-acquired infections is about to

skyrocket. Maybe then the totals will make the news.

[lonestarnot]

10. Holy crap! That many?

[WinkyDink]

15. YES. ANNUALLY. From Forbes magazine:

In a June 19, 2006 issue of Forbes Magazine in an article called “Killer Germs,” Forbes and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that “100,000 Americans die of hospital-bred infections.” In fact infections contracted in hospitals are the fourth largest killer in the United States,

http://myworkplacesafety.com/safetytips/?p=11

[lonestarnot]

19. Damn, someone better get busy on some funded research!

[bonito]

13. Silver ions

I just can't believe more people are not aware of this, frustrating indeed.
Something I know from experience with it.

[tbyg52]

31. Link, please? nt

[bonito]

32. Nope

I'm not trying to convince anyone any more, if you have a lab convince your self.:hi:

[tbyg52]

33. I just asked for information

I tried a Google and didn't come up with much, figured you had the info and might not mind sharing it. Oh well.

Edited to add:
Not quite sure why you mentioned it, if you're not trying to convince anybody and won't provide additional info if asked, but that's just me.... ;)

[madrchsod]

14. life is very cheap to the ones who planned

and executed this war. it is to expensive to provide the best for those who gave their best for the lie. it`s so expensive to provide the tools to care for the sick,wounded,and dieing.

[TechBear_Seattle]

16. "Accidentally"?

Methinks the Raw Story is being a tad naive.

[starroute]

24. Raw is just quoting Wired

And Wired is a tech publication and isn't in the business of political skepticism.

[Swamp Rat]

18. The Pentagon... "Unwittingly?" "Accidentally?"

:eyes:

[ContraBass Black]

21. That part I believe. Resistant strains are fostered in American hospitals and elsewhere.

The repeated emphasis of the unintention is odd, though.

The only thing I see here that's remarkable is the severity.

[spindrifter]

20. In 2004 there was a news release about this--w/ same figures:

http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=7814

So I hope if Wired has a story, they have updated it.

[truedelphi]

22. Are all of these below "flesh eaters"?

MRSA, Acinetobacter, C. Difficile???

[populistdriven]

23. none

Acinetobacter baumannii
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3456.htm

Staphylococcus aureus / MRSA
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa.html

C. Difficile
http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/CDifficile.html

[truedelphi]

27. Thanks Bushmeat

I assume none of these nasties even existed until B* became POTUS ;-)

[seemslikeadream]

25. some more info here also

http://rigorousintuition.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=10464

[seemslikeadream]

26. interesting post from professorpan

http://rigorousintuition.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=10464&start=15

Interesting paragraph from the Wired article:

Quote:
When a team of geneticists unlocked the secret of the bug's rapid evolution in 2005, they found that one strain of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii carries the largest collection of genetic upgrades ever discovered in a single organism. Out of its 52 genes dedicated to defeating antibiotics, radiation, and other weapons of mass bacterial destruction, nearly all have been bootlegged from other bad bugs like Salmonella, Pseudomonas, and Escherichia coli.


Hmmm. Almost as if it was engineered?

Again, pure speculation.

[RamboLiberal]

28. The Wired Article

http://www.wired.com//news/wiredmag/0,72532-0.html

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

29. Marked~ read tonite nt

[entanglement]

30. Time to move to phage therapy, perhaps?

n/t