A recent analysis of hospital data in the United States indicates that Acinetobacter baumannii infections resistant to carbapenem, also known as CRAB, have been responsible for more than one-third of all A. baumannii infections from 2018 to 2022. The study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, utilised data gleaned from 314 hospitals in the US and included in the PINC AI Database, examined 7,270 hospitalizations where one or more clinical culture of A. baumannii was identified.
The study’s aim was to determine the incidence, nationwide and regionally, of A. baumannii and CRAB infections as well as observe patterns in patient discharges, hospital mortality within 14 and 30 days, and the total length of hospital stay (LOS) related to these infections. The findings showed a slight but steady increase in A. baumannii incidence from 2018 to 2021, with a dip in 2022. For CRAB, however, there was a marked rise from 0.39 per 100 hospital encounters in 2018 to 0.53 in 2022.
Outcomes for patients with CRAB compared to those with carbapenem-susceptible A. baumannii infections were significantly poorer, with higher mortality rates, longer hospital stays, and a higher likelihood of being transferred to other healthcare facilities. Such findings strongly suggest the necessity for clinicians to consider A. baumannii, particularly CRAB, as a potential pathogen in adults presenting with infection symptoms, stressing the importance of stringent infection control and routine surveillance to arrest the spread.
In other health updates, the CDC reports a steady decrease in flu activity in the US, a continuation of a trend from previous weeks. Still, pediatric deaths related to the flu have risen to 198. Even as hospitalization and mortality statistics decline, flu test positivity is down to 6.7% from 7.6%, and this season’s cumulative hospitalization rate is the highest in over a decade.
CDC data also indicates a waning of COVID-19 levels, with a relatively static death rate at 0.7%. The positivity rates for tests for flu, COVID-19 and RSV all showed a decrease, with the latter two displaying low levels in wastewater detections across the nation.
Also noteworthy are the 23 deer testing positive for the fatal neurologic disease, CWD, out of 5,783 tested during the 2024-25 hunting season in Ohio, an alarming development in the spread of this disease. Finally, the news from Colombia’s health ministry declaring a public health emergency due to yellow fever with 45.3% case-fatality rate stresses the urgency of vaccination and globally coordinated health efforts in managing and preventing such outbreaks.