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Acinetobacter Skin Colonization of US Army Soldiers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2017

Matthew E. Griffith ,
Julia M. Ceremuga ,
Michael W. Ellis ,
Charles H. Guymon ,
Duane R. Hospenthal  and
Clinton K. Murray
Matthew E. Griffith*
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Julia M. Ceremuga
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Michael W. Ellis
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Charles H. Guymon
Affiliation:
US Army Institute of Surgical Research, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Duane R. Hospenthal
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Clinton K. Murray
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
*
Infectious Disease Service (MCHE-MDI), Brooke Army Medical Center, 3851 Roger Brooke Drive, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Objective.

To evaluate whether skin colonization with Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii complex exists in a population of healthy, nondeployed US Army soldiers and, if present, how it might relate to the infections seen in current war casualties.

Design.

We sampled various skin sites of soldiers to test for the presence of A. calcoaceticus-baumannii complex and to establish the prevalence of colonization. We then used ribotyping and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles to compare the isolates we recovered with A. calcoaceticus-baumannii complex isolates from injured soldiers.

Setting.

Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Participants.

A population of healthy, nondeployed US Army soldiers in training.

Results.

A total of 17% of healthy soldiers were found to harbor A. calcoaceticus-baumannii complex. However, the strains differed from those recovered from injured soldiers.

Conclusions.

Skin carriage of A. calcoaceticus-baumannii complex exists among soldiers before deployment. However, the difference in the strains isolated from healthy soldiers, compared with the strains from injured soldiers, makes it difficult to identify skin colonization as the source of infection.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 27 , Issue 7 , July 2006 , pp. 659 - 661
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2006

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