A study of US hospital data shows that carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) accounted for more than a third of all A baumannii infections from 2018 through 2022 and is increasingly more common, US researchers reported yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases.

Using clinical and microbiologic data from 314 US hospitals included in the PINC AI Database, researchers examined 7,270 hospitalizations in which one or more A baumannii clinical culture was identified. In addition to assessing the overall and regional incidence of A baumannii and CRAB, the researchers examined hospital discharge destination, 14- and 30-day hospital mortality, total hospital length of stay (LOS), and infection-associated LOS.

Steady increase in CRAB incidence

The overall A baumannii incidence rate was 1.19 cases per 100 hospitalization encounters and 1.33 cases per 100 unique patients. Yearly incidence increased slightly from 2018 through 2021, then dropped below 2019 levels in 2022. For CRAB, a total of 2,708 hospital encounters (37%) were identified, with an overall incidence rate of 0.44 cases per 100 hospitalization encounters. Yearly incidence rose from 0.39 per 100 hospitalization encounters in 2018 to 0.53 in 2022. The west south central, east north central, and east south central regions had the highest CRAB incidence rates (0.78, 0.67, and 0.63 cases per 100 hospitalization encounters, respectively). 

Patients with CRAB relative to patients with carbapenem-susceptible A baumannii (CSAB) were more likely to die during their hospitalization (20.5% vs. 11.3%, respectively), were more likely to be transferred to another healthcare facility (38.6% vs. 22.4%), and were less likely to be discharged to home (18.0% vs. 47.7%). Patients with CRAB also had significantly higher 14- and 30-day in-hospital mortality rates and significantly longer total and infection-associated hospital LOS relative to patients with CSAB.

"Given the observed incidence rates of CRAB and CSAB in this study and the critical importance of early appropriate therapy, clinicians should consider A. baumannii, especially CRAB, as a potential pathogen in adult hospitalized patients presenting with clinical signs and symptoms of infections," the study authors wrote, adding that strict infection control and routine surveillance might reduce the burden.

Ohio's Morrow County is the latest to report a first-time chronic wasting disease (CWD) case, the Ohio Division of Wildlife told the Country Journal.

The rest of the 23 CWD-positive deer harvested by hunters during the 2024-25 hunting season were found in Allen, Hardin, Marion, and Wyandot counties. In total, 5,783 white-tailed deer were tested for the disease, for a positivity rate of 0.4%.

CWD, a neurologic disease that is fatal to deer and other cervids such as elk and and moose, was first identified in a wild deer in Ohio in December 2020 and in captive deer in 2015. The disease is caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions, which are transmitted among cervids through contact with body fluids or environmental contamination. There is no cure.

Colombia's health ministry yesterday declared a public health emergency owing to the circulation of yellow fever in several regions of the country.

In a statement, officials said that, since September 2024, the country has recorded 75 cases, 34 of them fatal, for a case-fatality rate of 45.3%. Cases have been reported in nine departments, though most are in Tolima, located in the Andean region in the west central part of the country. The deaths were in eight districts, most of them in Tolima. 

The ministry urged all people ages 9 months and older to be vaccinated against yellow fever. 

Steady expansion, threat to urban areas

"The outbreak has shown progressive expansion, especially in areas of the Amazon basin, the Magdalena River, and departments such as Meta, in a short period of time," the ministry said. "Furthermore, cases have occurred in territories where they had not been historically reported, such as the municipality of Neira, Caldas, located in the coffee-growing region."

Though urban transmission in Colombia hasn't been reported since 1929, some cases have been detected in populated centers and on the outskirts of cities that have low population densities, highlighting the risk of spread to larger urban areas, the ministry said.

The government took several steps in September to contain the spread, including forming and sending vaccination teams to all affected areas. 

In late March, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemiologic alert about a rise in yellow fever cases in countries in the Americas, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. And earlier this week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a level 2 travel notice for yellow fever in South America.