NYT: "Troops in Iraq Bring Resistant Bacteria Home" (Denise Grady)

American troops wounded in Iraq and brought back to military hospitals in the United States have unexpectedly high rates of infection with a drug-resistant type of bacteria, doctors are finding.
The bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii, are not unique to Iraq. They live in soil and water in many parts of the world, and had already been known to cause trouble in hospitals and on battlefields in Vietnam. They can invade wounds, the bloodstream, bones, the lungs and other parts of the body. Antibiotics can cure the infection, but doctors must use the right ones, which include amikacin and imipenem.
[. . .]
No American soldiers from the Iraq war have died from the bacteria, but five very ill patients in the same hospitals as wounded soldiers became infected in the hospital and subsequently died. It is not known whether the bacteria or the patients' underlying illnesses caused their deaths, Colonel Petruccelli said.

The above is from Denise Grady's "Troops in Iraq Bring Resistant Bacteria Home" in this morning's New York Times.

Erika e-mails to note Kim Gandy's latest column entitled "Mystery? What Mystery?" (NOW):

I keep reading in the papers and hearing on the news that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' views are "unknown" or "a mystery." The media can't seem to figure him out. But here's my take:
Roberts worked for Reagan and Bush I. He clerked for Rehnquist. He was a special legal advisor to Jeb Bush during the 2000 election havoc in Florida. He was Deputy Solicitor General under Ken Starr. In court, he has argued against women's and civil rights time and again, from trying to topple Roe v. Wade and federal affirmative action programs to removing ADA protections and siding with Operation Rescue. His mother goes on national TV to talk about the centrality to their family life of their Roman Catholic faith. And to top it off, his wife is a legal advisor, major donor, and former board member of that oxymoronic group, "Feminists for Life." So I ask: where's the mystery?
Make no mistake: throughout his career, Roberts has consistently supported and promoted an anti-woman, anti-civil rights, and anti-worker agenda. His views are no secret, and if he is confirmed, we are in for decades of bad decisions from him. Visit our Save the Court page, email and call your Senators, write op/eds for your local papers or Letters to the Editor, talk to your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family. Do everything you can! We all must raise our voices against this extremist and partisan nominee--NOW, before it's too late.

Don't miss Democracy Now! today. Here's what's planned:

Thur, August 4: Ambassador Joseph Wilson on the CIA/Rove scandal.

And note this Amy Goodman appearance this Saturday:

* Amy Goodman in
Northampton, MA:
Sat, August 6
*TIME: 8 PM
10th Annual Grassroots Radio Conference, and Prometheus' Eighth Radio Barnraising
John M Greene Hall
Smith College
For more information, visit http://www.prometheusradio.org/grc.shtml

On Saturday, August 6th, join Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman for a live broadcast celebrating local community media.
During this public event part of Prometheus Radio's Grassroots Radio Conference and Radio Barnraising
Amy Goodman will interview:
* Martin Espada, the Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts
* Former SNCC field secretary, Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
* Sut Jhally, founder of the Media Education Foundation
* Long-time war tax resister and civil rights activist, Juanita Nelson
* John Nichols, co-founder of the media reform group, Free Press
and other local writers and activists.
Democracy Now! Live, at John M. Greene Hall, Smith College, begins at 8 pm on Saturday, August 6th.
Doors open at 7 pm. Tickets available at the door.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.