Smoking Cited in Iraq Pneumonia Cases

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON - Most of the soldiers in and around Iraq (news - web sites) with unexplained, severe pneumonia had taken up smoking shortly before falling ill, military medical authorities said Tuesday.

The military is investigating 19 cases of severe pneumonia since March, including two fatalities. Four of those cases were linked to bacterial infections. Of the remaining 15, 10 patients, including the two who died, had elevated levels of a certain type of white blood cells.

Nine of the 10 reported they had started smoking recently, said Col. Bob DeFraites, a top Army medical officer. It's unclear whether smoking caused or contributed to the pneumonia, but since tobacco smoke damages lungs, it's a chief suspect, DeFraites said.

"It may be a combination of the desert deployment with heat and dust and everything else in conjunction with the smoking," DeFraites told reporters in a telephone conference call. "It's not a coincidence, the association with smoking. ... It's a known irritant for lungs and a known risk factor for pneumonia in general. It may be sensitizing the lungs for the pneumonia."

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=519&u=/ap/20030909/ap_on_re_us/soldier_illness_4&printer=1

[study_war_no_more]

1. smoking what?

chasing the dragons tail perhaps?

[lostnfound]

2. Sounds like a cover story..

One of the young men, Josh Neusche, ("a former track star and non-smoker") who went in a coma and died (supposedly from pneumonia) had just written home that he was going to be going on a special 'hauling mission' at Baghdad Airport. His parents flew to Germany to visit him (at their own expense, because the army refused to pay for it) overheard the nurses saying that he and the others had been exposed to a toxin.

Neusche stated that while his son was in a coma at Landstuhl Hospital, the father overheard the nurses say that they were expecting numerous sick troops to be brought in all at one time. In fact, the father actually witnessed approximately 55 other troops being received by the hospital after they were transported by a military ambulance (bus). According to the father, the transported troops were exhibiting varying degrees of the illness. Some walked, some were in wheelchairs and others were on respirators. In the commotion, a doctor reported to the father that his son was suffering from a “toxin.”

The soldier's hometown paper (www.lakesunleader.com) has been covering it.

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. It is a cover story

for mycoplasma pneumonia, as seen so frequently in veterens who suffered from the government-denied Gulf War Syndrome. It's happening again.

[sandnsea]

4. It's not going to work

I can't imagine any thinking person believing cigarette smoking suddenly caused all these people to get sick and many to die. It defies logic. It's probably worse then having said nothing at all, now it's more suspicious that there's a cover up.

[ikojo]

5. So, bushco is saying it's the SOLDIER'S fault they are getting

pneumonia and dying? If only they had not picked up those evil cigarettes! I hope even the most anti smoking person out there sees through this charade but somehow I doubt it. I can see the fundy repugnican base totally believing this and blaming the victims.