Cole Anderson, Francois Lebreton, Emma Mills, Brendan Jones, Melissa Martin, Hunter Smith, Roseanne Ressner, Sara Robinson, Wesley Campbell, Jason Smedberg, Michael Backlund, Diane Homeyer, Joshua Hawley-Molloy, Natalie Khan, Henry Dao, Patrick McGann, and Jason Bennett
In 2021, two US military hospitals, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, observed a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria among refugees evacuated from Afghanistan during Operation Allies Refuge. Multidrug-resistant isolates collected from 80 patients carried an array of antimicrobial resistance genes, including carbapenemases (blaNDM-1, blaNDM-5, and blaOXA-23) and 16S methyltransferases (rmtC and rmtF). Considering the rising transmission of antimicrobial resistance and unprecedented population displacement globally, these data are a reminder of the need for robust infection control measures and surveillance.