Drug-resistant bacteria invade U.S. hospitals.

• Position: Acinetobacter - ICUs - Brief article

A surge in drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter, a dangerous type of bacteria that is becoming increasingly common in U.S. hospitals, has been reported in a study published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. These infections attack patients in hospital intensive care units while also plaguing soldiers returning home from the Iraqi war. They often appear as severe pneumonias or bloodstream infections, and require strong drugs to be treated, when they can be stopped at all.

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Using data from hospitals around the country, researchers at Extending the Cure--a project of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Resources for the Future--analyzed bends in resistance to imipenem, an antibiotic often reserved as a last-line treatment. The study found that, in recent years, there has...