IraqiBacter; Look What Else Came Home from Iraq
When we think of environmental problems we think of giant melting glaciers, huge hurricanes and tsunamis, but it’s the little things that can get us too like bacteria. There is a new germ that’s arrived in the U.S. from Iraq and although it’s deadly, it’s not a terrorist threat. It arrived here innocently enough with our wounded soldiers. It seems to be following the evacuation route of the wounded all the way back to the U.S.
If you haven’t seen the Nova presentation about this new bacteria called Baumannii or IraqiBacter, you should. Everyone should be aware of this potential danger.
Baumannii is highly drug resistant. It hangs around in places like doorknobs and pillowcases for weeks. It’s been exposed to our most powerful antibiotics but keeps morphing or conjugating its way out of death. By conjugating, I mean Baumannii bacteria likes to practice horizontal gene transfer with any old germ it comes in contact with. If it contacts pneumonia germs, bingo, the next generation of Baumannii carries pneumonia genes. One strain was found to have 46 different or foreign genes in just one sector of its DNA. One of the genes was Legionaire’s disease.
Watch the video: Nova Video about Baumannii. Just click under watch the segment.