Acinetobacter baumannii is a pleomorphic, aerobic, gram negative bacillus. To be more exact the shape is oval lying somewhere between a coccus and a bacillus. The bacteria appear as pairs when viewed through a microscope and are similar to Haemophilus influenzae. A. baumannii is very common and easy to isolate from hospital type environments. Also it can be found in environmental sources such as drinking water, sewage and soil. Most of the time the microbe is only a colonizer and not likely to cause infections, but when it does the infections range from pneumonia and meningitis.
This bacterium is very hard to diagnose as the causative agent of infection because the symptoms that appear are indistinguishable from those that arise from other microorganisms. One way to confirm the presence of A. baumannii is to culture the cerebrospinal or peritoneal fluid. Blood counts are not specific enough for diagnosis. Once determined to be the cause of infection, A. baumannii is difficult to treat with antibiotics because it is so resistant to multiple drugs.I found this microbe interesting because of the fact that it is highly uncommon for it to cause infections, yet the cases for A. baumannii infections have increased 20 fold for military personnel who participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. One reason for this is that the particular strain isolated from the soil in Iraq is extremely hardy due to the harsher conditions in the Iraqi soil, according to Paul Scott, a researcher at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Another reason for the rise in infection rates is due to the lack of sanitation in the areas where the soldiers are first being treated before they can be transported to hospitals. Somewhere between first being wounded and the hospitals where the soldiers were transferred to they came in contact A. baumannii. The strain cultured from the infected soldiers was the same as the strain isolated from Iraqi soil. Once hospitalized the soldiers began to spread the infection to other patients in the hospitals. Because of the dirty conditions of the battle field A. baumannii infections have been a problem for soldiers since Vietnam. The prognosis is good in that doctors can usually find a combination of antibiotics that can kill the infection before too much damage is done, but the final outcome is dependent upon the underlying health of the patient.
Even though the damage can be minimized it is important for doctors to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Researchers are currently working to create a vaccination for military personnel that would have a higher likelihood of coming in contact with the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii.
References
Anonymous. 2005 .Acinetobacter baumannii infections in military medical facilities. <http://www.acinetobacter.org> Accessed 2006 Feb 10.
Cunha B. 2003 Oct 15. Acinetobacter. <http://www.emedicine.com> Accessed 2006 Jan 31
Herper M. 2005 Aug 2. Military chases mystery infection.<http://www.forbes.com> Accessed 2206 Feb 09.
*Disclaimer - This report was written by a student participaring in a microbiology course at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. The accuracy of the contents of this report is not guaranteed and it is recommended that you seek additional sources of information to verify the contents.
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