Army studying 1st Infantry Division’s unusually high rates of TB exposure

[lebkuchen]

Army medical officials are investigating why an unusually high percentage of 1st Infantry Division troops have tested positive for exposure to the lung disease tuberculosis after returning this spring from Iraq.

Dr. (Maj.) James Mancuso, chief of epidemiology for the Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine-Europe, said 4 percent to 5 percent of deployed 1st ID troops reacted positively in the tuberculin skin test all of them received when they came home. During previous deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, he said, about 1 percent or 2 percent typically have been exposed.

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The disease progresses slowly. Untreated active tuberculosis can cause the deterioration of the lungs and, eventually, death. Mancuso said it is common in underdeveloped countries.

“TB is endemic in Iraq,” he said. “Any time you have a war, TB gets worse. And Iraq already had a problem.”

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It is known, though, that 1st ID deployed about 12,000 troops to Iraq. Based on Mancuso’s statistics, between 450 and 600 of those must have tested positive.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=30305

Would Iraq's TB problem have anything to do with 12 years of sanctions in addition to the US/UK invasion?

[HereSince1628]

1. It has to do with debatable US policy on TB vaccine.

The vaccine, used widely elsewhere in the world, interferes with the screening techniques historically used in the US.

How do you spell Rifampin?

[daleo]

2. TB or not TB?

A little gift, courtesy of Bush's war, for the returning soldiers and their families.