Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

More than 100 US soldiers in Iraq struck with pneumonia

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Latest Breaking News Donate to DU
 
rooboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 02:48 AM
Original message
More than 100 US soldiers in Iraq struck with pneumonia
The US Army has dispatched a team of medical experts to Iraq to investigate a spate of serious pneumonia cases among its troops.

Military officials say two soldiers have died of the pneumonia and more than 100 are ill.

Army medical authorities say they are concerned because the pneumonia is attacking healthy, young soldiers, which means it is likely to be a virulent strain.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s915843.htm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
expatriot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 02:54 AM
Response to Original message
1. i wonder if it has anything to do with this article...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s915829.htm

a british soldier got hypothermia from taking a nap in a walk-in freezer to escape the heat. desperation is what desperation does.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
expatriot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 02:58 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. two have died? young healthy males dying of pnuemonia? wow.
this is actually quite a big story then. even in the olden days it mainly fed on the frail, very young and very old. but i guess the exhaustion incurred by patrolling in that heat would wreak havoc on the immune system.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ahimsa Donating Member (279 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 03:34 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. "proof" of wmd?
maybe this is the upcoming "surprise" "proof" we've been hearing about.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
jamesinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 04:58 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. It should be hitting the locals then, not just the troops
So what ever they are doing,they are passing it to each other, they are eating the same contaminated food, they don't have the immunity that the locals have, something. If it was a biological weapon, it would be spread in the wind in a predictable drift. It would if in the soil, affect a very distinct area. Unless the U.S. just happened to set up camp on a bio dump, I doubt this happened.

Are there any reports of the Iraq people being affected? Did the U.S. send over a plant and it accidently is effecting the troops? What is going on, the military I will tell you right now is going to deny any thing like that even if it was true.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 04:14 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. This sounds like a viral illness
Specifically, it sounds like one of the hantaaviruses. These are all varieties of hemorrhagic fevers which fill the lungs and/or kidneys with blood. It's unlikely it's a bioweapon of any type.

Here in NM, where the domestic hantaavirus was first isolated, there was a big cluster of cases involving young, healthy adults. The parallel is valid there, too.

My guess is that they're collecting tissue samples and shipping them to the CDC, and perhaps to NM where the strain was identified in the US.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
amazona Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:01 AM
Response to Reply #2
27. well, i've certainly known it to happen
Any age can get pneumonia. I had it in my teens and again in my thirties. If it is not treated, even a young person can die of pneumonia. For example, a friend's 34 year old cousin died because he was extremely healthy and thought he had only a cold, not requiring a doctor's treatment. By the time he realized he was in severe distress and went to the ER, it was too late. My understanding is that this does happen in a certain percentage of cases. Two deaths out of 100 fit young men would suggest to me that the soldiers are not receiving the right medications in time. I believe dehydration on top of pneumonia could also be a factor, as I have heard reports of water rationing. A dehydrated individual, no matter how fit when they left the States, is not really healthy and could certainly be considered vulnerable.

They need to make sure our people are getting enough water, food, and medicine to put a stop to these tragedies.

I am not a doctor. This is just my opinion. But having experienced a severe strain of Mycoplasma right here in the states, during a hot July, that killed some older people I know and made me and some others good and sick, I see nothing odd about getting pneumonia in a hot climate! And, when it happens, it is miserable.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 03:09 AM
Response to Original message
3. An article from A.F.P.
points out some unpleasant details:

(snip) Normally, the US Army averages nine incidents of pneumonia per 10,000 soldiers a year -- cases that are serious enough to require hospitalization.

However, since March 1, when thousands of US troops were massed around Iraq ready for a strike, the disease has already hit approximately 100 servicemen.

Fifteen of the cases were so severe that they required ventilator support to keep sick soldiers alive.

Three American soldiers fell gravely ill with pneumonia in March, three more in April, two in May, three again in June and four in July, according to the Army. (snip/...)

http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=98351&ChannelId=1

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 03:22 AM
Response to Original message
4. Sweating in the day, and freezing at night?
The sweat soaked BDUs cool and at night the soldiers freeze in their uniforms? I remember a couple of times this happened to me; extreme sweating then inadequate shelter (we didn't have any stoves in the tents). I could feel the chill sink into my bones.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 04:15 AM
Response to Reply #4
7. You don't get sick from getting chilled.
There has to be a pathogen involved.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
w4rma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 04:49 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common bacteria
Etiologic Agent: Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a small bacterium

Transmission: Person-to-person transmission by contact with respiratory secretions. Incubation period is 1 to 4 weeks.

Risk Groups: Persons of all ages are at risk but rarely children less than 5years old. Outbreaks are common among young adults, especially in crowded military and institutional settings. Outbreaks in these settings can last several months.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/mycoplasmapneum_t.htm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 05:06 AM
Response to Reply #8
12. Part of Gulf War Syndrome
I'd snip, but I wouldn't know what's important in a medical article!

http://www.gulfwarvets.com/article24.htm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Whoa_Nelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 11:41 AM
Response to Reply #8
31. Soldiers in Gulf War received shots with mycoplasma
In this article, it is revealed that among the many shots soldiers received prior to going to the Gulf in 1991, there was mycoplasma contamination. At least 70% of the medical records pertaining to Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) are "missing".

In this post are some pertinent paragraphs, however, the entire article begs a good read.

http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/gulf_war_syndrome/CFS_Gulf_War_Syndrome_Article.html

Gulf War Syndrome

Mary Christine, MSW, holds a Master of Social Work degree as well as a BA in Psychology with a minor in Human Biology. Christine got CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) in October of 1990 after having mycoplasmic pneumonia and was quite debilitated for about a year. Her strength and endurance slowly improved with rest etc. over time. She had been functioning very well for the past few years and until recently she was working as a therapist for adolescents. However, Christine recently had a relapse after having a cough, a high fever for four days, and a sinus infection. Christine bought a new car about two and a half weeks before having the relapse. She has recently learned that the chemicals found in new cars such as formaldehyde can cause people with CFS and people testing positive for the mycoplasma infection described in this article to become ill with a high fever, cough, etc. and can trigger the onset of or a relapse of CFS. Adverse reactions to chemicals has been termed multiple chemical sensitivity or environmental allergies. Since having the relapse Christine has experienced MCS in response to paint fumes. Also, since having the relapse she has been unable to work due to not being able to walk very far. However, she has been researching the relationship between CFS and Gulf War Syndrome.


Christine reports that current research which allegedly the U.S. government is attempting to destroy is showing that CFS and Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) are caused by chronic infectious agents which have long incubation periods ranging from months to years. The chronic infections can result in increased sensitivity to chemicals. However, at least in the vast majority of cases, exposure to chemicals alone is not the cause of Gulf War Syndrome (or CFS) as some propose. In this article Christine shows how the United States Government with collaborators outside and within the country being directed by those above the White House with the power and money who control much of what goes on in this country and the world, including much of the research that goes on in universities, is controlling population growth and attempting to decrease the world population through abusive, oppressive means with no regard for human life. Specifically, she discusses Gulf War Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as illnesses created by the U.S. Government. She refers to an official government document, the 1969 hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives (91st Congress) which were held to determine the appropriation of funds for the Department of Defense for 1970. The appropriations were passed in 1970. On June 9, 1969, Dr. Donald M. MacArthur, Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, testified before Congress on U.S. involvement regarding chemical and biological warfare. Excerpts from this testimony are included below. Many think this testimony was calling for the creation of AIDS.


<snip>

According to statements Dr. Garth Nicolson made during a presentation, Nicolson says the Gulf War was the first time in history that shot records were not kept on the troops and one whole unit was threatened that they would be shot if they didn't take their shots. McAlvany reports that based on numerous conversations with Gulf War vets Joyce Riley has concluded that approximately 70% of their medical records are missing. Dr. Nancy Nicolson says contacts in Central Command under Schwarzkopf and multiple high level operatives from domestic and foreign intelligence have told she and Garth the Gulf War veterans' medical records were in the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City before it was bombed.

<snip>
In 1991, about six months after returning from military service in the Gulf War, Garth Nicolson's daughter from a previous marriage began suffering similar symptoms to those Nancy had suffered including chronic fatigue, aching joints, diarrhea, vomiting, and fevers. It sounded like a mycoplasma infection to Garth and at his suggestion she began trying Doxycycline which helped her to regain her health. She began passing the word to her military friends who then tried Doxycyline. The Nicolson's later contacted 73 of the veterans and 55 reported an improvement in health. Nancy Nicolson explains that a lot of the people who were sick were high-level government operatives and that when they started helping them and their families these specialists started talking. Nancy says that as their "intelligence sources" began filling them in she became a less than cooperative member of the Baylor faculty and that she was fired in 1991 because she wouldn't go along with germ warfare.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
jamesinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 05:05 AM
Response to Reply #7
11. The chill weakens you by using energy to heat you
This is the opening the pathogen needs. It is a wives tale, but there is a grain of truth to it. The healthier you are the less likely it is this will happen.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
teryang Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 07:26 AM
Response to Reply #11
18. It's not a wives tale
It is the generalized stress response which impacts on the auto immune system. The system is typified by the sequence of environmental challenge, adaptation which is a temporary period of equilibrium induced by adjustment to the stressor, followed by exhaustion in which all systems yield to the stressor. During this last stage, factors of immunosuppression are impaired to some degree depending on the severity and length of the stressor and the individual characteristics of the individual.

I am not a doctor but the prevalence of suspended particulate matter in such a degraded and unsanitary environment may also be a factor. Inhalation of debris can be a factor in the development of pneumonia.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 09:18 AM
Response to Reply #7
23. Didn't know that, thanks.
Edited on Sat Aug-02-03 09:20 AM by Rex
I thought you could catch pnuemonia from things like upper respiratory infections.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Merlin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 08:34 AM
Response to Reply #4
21. In Vietnam this happened to a couple of guys in my unit.
We were located on an isolated fire base on top of a mountain near Cambodia. The rainy season came on and it rained heavily for about a month. The temperature would occassionally get down below 50 degrees. I was astounded, but guys would catch pneumonia under those conditions and have to be medevaced.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 09:29 AM
Response to Reply #21
25. It happened to me in S. Korea, the monsoon season set in and
in the day time the temp would get well over 100 degrees. We would sweat bullets in the field and at night it would be colder than a witch's tit. I doubt I got pneumonia, but I definitely know I had a severe upper respiratory infection - it stayed with me for about two weeks. I had no idea the human body could produce that much snot!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 05:00 AM
Response to Original message
10. The anthrax vaccinations???
I'm throwing things out here. What were the objections to this vaccine, seems like illness was one. Any other new vaccines these guys were required to have?

This is weird and not only that, looks like they had advanced warning with higher than normal pneumonia rates since March.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
jamesinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 05:23 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. I don't think the anthrax antibiotics would do this.
It was small pox that they were vaccinated for. Here is what I am thinking. Remember all the dust storms they had before entering Baghdad? Something was in the soil, they all inhaled it. Mycobacterium as suggested in a previous post, is a member of certain clostridia genomes. Clostridium is a mean little SOB. Mycobacterium has a 1-3 week incubation period and 1-4 week recovery time. Usually is not fatal. It's symptoms ar lassitude, fever, headache, sore throat and cough. If you are out in a sand storm you would probably just figure it was from eating dirt all day, not a bacteria. I am sure that is it, the locals were indoors and sheltered from the sand, the troops were not.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
fishnfla Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 05:46 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. That incubation time doesnt work with these cases
Edited on Sat Aug-02-03 05:47 AM by fishnfla
they are all spread out, the storms were in April, there have been a couple of cases each month, including March
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
jamesinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 06:37 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. That is the thing that perplexes me
It may not be a mycobactirum then. It may be something else that is over there in the air, soil or water. The last soldier that I read about dying sounded like he went into multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. I am no pathologist or microbiologist, but I do know this is not right what is going on. As far as I know they unleshed some anciet curse over there.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 07:47 AM
Response to Reply #16
20. Toxin producing organism?
The multi-organ failure sounds like a toxin-related septicemia.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
amazona Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:15 AM
Response to Reply #16
28. it sounds right for Mycoplasma for me
The disease is spread from person to person, by coughing or close contact or whatever. About a decade ago, an outbreak of Mycoplasma went through my area. Everybody isn't hit at once. You do indeed get a few people getting it one month, then more people getting it later, then more people getting it later as the illness runs it course. When I got Mycoplasma, I was taking care of someone else who already had it. In turn, he may have been exposed by his neighbor, who died of the illness. In another part of town, another friend's father died of the Mycoplasma through a different series of contacts.

"Usually" does not kill isn't the same as "never" kills. Two out of 100 dying of Mycoplasma under the conditions we're seeing in Iraq doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I'm not saying it *is* Mycoplasma, just saying I wouldn't rule it out based on the length of the outbreak or the fatalities.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Rose Siding Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:36 AM
Response to Reply #13
29. Don't vaccines lower resistance?
And they all have had a full battery of vaccines. I'm fairly certain that the unapproved anthrax vac was given as well.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 03:28 PM
Response to Reply #29
32. Anthrax vaccine may harm immune system
There does seem to be connections between mycoplasma pneumonia and anthrax vaccine. One being, lowered immunities.

"The way we are saying it these days is this: The anthrax vaccine runs right over the human immune system. What it actually seems to do is put the immune system into overdrive, to the point where it turns on itself."


http://www.ngwrc.org/anthrax/Strength.htm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
hadrons Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 05:55 AM
Response to Original message
15. could it be the A/C's???
could it be the sudden change of temperature from being outdoors to going indoors with A/Cs ... also isn't Legionniare's Disease caused by a baterica that lives in the moist, cool environment in air conditioners?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
jamesinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 06:39 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. The A/C is not on over there enough
They have not got power restored to the country in a consistent fashion yet I don't think. It seems that these kids are the ones that are outside, not in the palaces etc.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
cmd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 07:26 AM
Response to Original message
19. A grandma reported to me yesterday...........
that her grandson who is in a special forces unit somewhere north of Baghdad told his wife that a lot of guys in his unit were sick. Apparently he does a lot of traveling and wants nothing sent to him because he'll just have to carry it around. Grandma doesn't expect him home for another year; his wife says two years.

Grandma hates Bush. She considers him the anti-Christ.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Frances Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 09:46 AM
Response to Reply #19
26. I agree with Grandma
My first cousin's grandson was in Kuwait before the war started and she was very against the war. Maybe we should have a Grandmas Against Bush group.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Skittles Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 08:40 AM
Response to Original message
22. perhaps it is caused by prolonged stress and sinking morale
it's as good a theory as any.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
jmcgowanjm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 09:29 AM
Response to Original message
24. we're just not going to say "Depleted Uranium" here are we
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0801-2moreUSsol-123700.html


"What we saw can be described in only three words - Oh my God! The wounds were horrible, the contamination was extensive," he said.

"Although myself and my team members wore respiratory and skin protection, that protection we know today does not provide any adequate protection against the inhalation, the ingestion, the absorption of uranium compounds."

He said he now suffered rashes, respiratory problems, kidney problems and cataracts related to his exposure to uranium.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6639822%255E1702,00.html


Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Athame Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:45 AM
Response to Reply #24
30. The "team of experts" says no evidence for DU or SARS
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030802/frontpage/66541.shtml

A six-person team of specialists traveled to Iraq on Friday to investigate 15 cases of pneumonia so serious that patients had to be put on ventilators to breathe and were evacuated from the region, the Army Surgeon General's Office said.

Two soldiers died, 10 recovered, and three remained hospitalized as of Friday, spokeswoman Lyn Kukral said. Most were in the Army, but at least one was a Marine.

So far, officials have identified no infectious agent common to all the cases. Officials said there was no evidence that any of the cases were caused by exposure to chemical or biological weapons, environmental toxins or SARS.

So, they left Friday and they can already determine this? Hmmm. :think:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Fri Dec 27th 2024, 06:26 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Latest Breaking News Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC