Troops 'spread superbug'

[IChing]

The Sunday Times October 08, 2006

Troops 'spread superbug'
Steven Swinford

WOUNDED troops returning from Iraq have been linked by government scientists to outbreaks of a deadly superbug in National Health Service hospitals.
Injured soldiers flown back to be treated on the NHS have been infected with a rare strain of Acinetobacter baumannii, a superbug resistant to antibiotics.

At one hospital in Birmingham in 2003 the bacteria went on to infect 93 people, 91 of whom were civilians. Thirty-five died, although the hospital has not been able to establish whether the superbug was a contributory factor.>>>>snip

The bacterium has become a concern in the US army, where it has been identified in more than 240 military personnel since 2003, killing five.>>>>snip


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2393815,00.html