Mike the Mad Biologist

Seed Magazine Covers Acinetobacter

Posted by Mike on January 23, 2007
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Update: I was in error (long day at work). The article was published in Wired magazine

Seed Magazine, the meatworld Overlords of ScienceBlogs, has an article about Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium which can be resistant to virtually every antibiotic used to treat it–and in some cases, all antibiotics.

It’s pretty good, although I think A. baumanii is less of a problem than MRSA, for example. It’s also never been clear to me why the strains that circulate in hospitals are resistant to fewer drugs than those recovered from environmental trauma wounds (e.g., wounded soldiers). Anyway, I’m glad to see that this issue is getting the coverage it deserves in the scientific press (considering I was blogging about this in August 2005).

Here’s a list of some Acinetobacter related posts:

Acinetobacter baumannii: There’s a New Bug in Town

Acinetobacter: We’re All Going To Die!

I’m Famous!

MRSA and Acinetobacter

The Six Most Dangerous Microorganisms

Acinetobacter: It’s Worse Than We Thought

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Comments

  1. #1 Anon
    January 23, 2007

    The article is in Wired magazine, not Seed.

  2. #2 Steve Silberman
    January 23, 2007

    Mike, did you actually read my article, which indeed ran in Wired rather than Seed? It gets into considerable detail about how the organisms found in the wounds of wounded soldiers were not antibiotic-resistant, and that the notion that the source of the infections was dirt in wounds was mistaken.

  3. #3 Marcie Hascall Clark
    January 23, 2007

    When you do get a chance to read the story I think you’ll find that the same completely disgusting filthy conditions, the understaffing and overcrowding in the entire evacuation system which didn’t stop at Walter Reed, Bethesda, Brooke, Balboa or any VAMC medical center or clinic had to be spreading MRSA and the other organisms also.
    They also spread the AB to the Iraqi hospitals with patients that they treated.
    Steve is the only journalist out of hundreds who knew about this who didn’t back down when the DOD tried to block him.
    Thanks to you Mike for your many knowledgable posts regarding these bugs and the misuse of antibiotics.