Posts Tagged tropical medicine

NDM-1 in a U.S. Military Hospital in Afghanistan

By Maryn McKenna

… Deep in the back of the weekly bulletin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is a note that NDM-1, the “Indian supergene,” has been isolated from a patient in a U.S. military field hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan.

It’s been a few months since NDM-1 was in the news, so let’s recap. The acronym (for “New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1″) indicates an enzyme that allows common gut bacteria to denature almost all the drugs that can be used against them, leaving two or three that are inefficient or toxic.

… You don’t even have to imagine what comes next, because we already know: Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii has been spreading through the military hospital system for almost a decade, with grave consequences for injured military personnel.

Acintobacter slipped by the military medical system before they noticed, and became established in military hospitals before infection-control efforts were prepared to counter it.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/ndm1-us-military/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

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Malaria FAQ for Health Professionals

Frequently Asked Questions on Malaria Prevention

http://www.nathnac.org/pro/misc/faq_malaria.htm

Revised 14 March 2008

Compiled by the HPA Malaria Reference Laboratory

and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)

The main source of advice relating to malaria chemoprophylaxis for travellers from the UK is from the Health Protection Agency, Advisory Committee for Malaria Prevention (ACMP):

Chiodini P, Hill D, Lalloo D, Lea G, Walker E, Whitty C and Bannister B. Guidelines for malaria prevention in travellers from the United Kingdom. London, Health Protection Agency, January 2007.

The ACMP guidelines for the treatment of malaria can be found on the HPA website at http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/malaria/

Treat_guidelines.htm

An algorithm for the treatment of malaria can be found on the British Infection Society website at http://www.britishinfectionsociety.org/documents/

Malariaalgorithm07.pdf

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