The Bacterial Diseases branch addresses two of the top ten most significant infectious disease threats to U.S. Service Members, as identified by DOD-MIDRP - diarrheal diseases and multidrug resistant bacteria.

Bacterial threats take and keep Services Members out of the fight, threatening unit readiness and wound recovery. Nearly one out of five Soldiers deployed to
Iraq or Afghanistan for at least seven months were confined to quarters for 3-4 days due to diarrheal disease. More dangerously, Soldiers experiencing a combat
wound face the additional threat of multidrug-resistant (MDR) infection—a potentially life-threatening complication whose rise coincides with a growing lack of
efficacy from gold-standard, antibiotic treatments.

Bacterial Disease branch (BDB) seeks to overcome these threats by developing new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, targeting the most dangerous pathogens Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae,  Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter species, 
and Escherichia coli—through the Multidrug Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN), developing an effective diarrheal vaccine, and
new antibiotics, including bacteriophages and novel antibiotic drug classes.

Research Areas

Wound Infection

BDB is on the forefront of efforts to develop bacteriophages and new classes of antibiotic drugs to combat the spread of multidrug resistant organisms and improve outcomes for Soldiers experiencing bacterial infections as a result of combat injuries.

Diarrheal Diseases

Diarrheal diseases, notably Shigella, are a major source of morbidity among deployed U.S. military and a significant threat to readiness. To that end, BDB aims to develop a safe and effective vaccine against multiple Shigella strains to protect personnel overseas and keep Soldiers in the fight.