Please Welcome the Newest Nanobug to the Menagerie - Ancinetobacter baumannii

Nanobugs is proud to announce the creation of a new nanobug - Acinetobacter baumannii.  (However, we are not proud of the torment this little microbe causes.)    Today I watched a live webcast of a congressional hearing entitled: Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Preventable Epidemic.  The hearing was held in Washington, DC before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Oversight and Reform to address the question of whether the Department of Health and Human Services is providing appropriate leadership to combat this public health threat.  This is a whole topic I will comment on at another time but I encourage you to watch this hearing on C-span if you get a chance.  You will hear questions from the Committee members about Acinetobacter.  Rep. Norton was unable to pronounce the name of this microbe but she had concerns about it's prevalence among soldiers injured in Iraq and hospitalized in military hospitals like Walter Reed and Bethesda. 

Acinetobacter baumanniiFirst off, here is the correct pronunciation for Acinetobacter baumannii:  (ace-ih-nee-toe-back-ter  bow-mon-ee-eye)  This bacterium is a gram-negative rod that usually appears in pairs so that is why there are 2 of them in the nanobug image.   The usual abbreviation is A. baumannii or often just the name of the genus - Acinetobacter.  This nanobug lives in water and soil.  However, it can survive for several days on surfaces including cell phones and keyboards.  It causes bloodstream infections, pneumonia and wound infections.  People with a weakened immune system and hospitalized patients are at greatest risk of infection from A. baumannii - especially soldiers injured in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.  AND there were infections with this nanobug among soldiers injured in the Vietnam War.   To prevent infections from Acinetobacter, good hand hygiene is important - especially by health care workers.  Wound cultures in military personnel should be monitored for Acinetobacter baumannii.  To further complicate matters - this bacterium is often resistant to many antibiotics!  This contributes to the high mortality from infections related to Acinetobacter.   Hence, the slogan we have assigned to this nanobug:  "We often come in sets of two and do our best to eliminate you!  We have not yet animated this nanobug but it should be fun when we do.  - that is, if you like to see pathogens like this demonstrate their bad attitude.

This entry was posted on April 16th, 2008 at 10:29 pm. RSS | Back to Blog Homepage.

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