you know that incurable skin infection our troops are getting?

[donsu]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=655&ncid=655&e=10&u=/oneworld/20040317/wl_oneworld/4591817531079514972

Thousands in Pakistan Fall Prey to Incurable Skin Infection

Pakistan has sanctioned US $1.44 million to find a cure for the untreatable parasitic skin disease leishmaniasis, which has afflicted thousands of people in border districts after the influx of Afghan refugees into these areas.

Leishmaniasis, also known as kala azar, is transmitted through sand flies and affects the skin as well as soft tissues. The disease, which thrives in dirty places, causes scarring and disability, informs local dermatologist Dr Rauf Aslam.

The illness, which is endemic in parts of Afghanistan (news - web sites), and relatively rare in neighboring Pakistan, has been insidiously spreading in recent years because of the steady inflow of Afghan refugees into the border regions of Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
-snip-
-----------------------------

isn't this the same as our troops are getting? I've read reports and didn't CNN have a report and show pics.? I've seen pics in some media, of our troops home here in the hosp. and how they are trying to treat it.

[Crowdance]

1. Yup, same disease

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2003/12/07/280329-ap.html

[aquart]

2. I didn't know it was incurable. This is ghastly.

Yeah, I think it is the same, but I didn't know it was disabling, either. I thought it just made them itch, which was bad enough.

Feeling dreadfully helpless.

[opihimoimoi]

3. and now it comes to America?? Thanks a lot Bushco.

[donsu]

5. that's what I was thinking - the sand fleas coming here in their baggage

they probably are already here.

[Sherrif Bart]

4. a buddy of mine started losing hair and nails over there

but turns out it was stress and lack of vitamins. He's fine now.

[donsu]

6. my uncle was on a battleship during WWII and came home gray haired

as a young man.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi Sherrif Bart!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[keithyboy]

7. The "War on Terror" is the real war against civilization.

When will people wake up and understand this? The ramifications of the US invasion of Iraq and the misguided war on terrorism in Afghanistan will be the undoing of life as we knew it...for the entire world.

[callous taoboy]

9. Hell,

if you shop at Wal-Mart you are supporting terror.

[treepig]

8. it can be cured/treated (although i suppose it's more dramatic

to make claims to the contrary)

- How is leishmaniasis treated?

It is advised that health care provider should talk with CDC staff about whether cases of leishmaniasis should be treated, and, if so, how. The drug of choice is sodium stibogluconate (under an investigational New Drug Protocol from the CDC Drug Service). Most people who have cutaneous leishmaniasis do not need to be hospitalized during their treatment.

- Can leishmaniasis be a serious disease if not treated?

Yes, it can be. The skin sores of cutaneous leishmaniasis will heal on their own, but this can take months or even years. The sores can leave ugly scars. If not treated, infection that started in the skin rarely spreads to the nose or mouth and causes sores there (mucosal leishmaniasis). This can happen with some of the types of the parasite found in Central and South America. Mucosal leishmaniasis might not be noticed until years after the original skin sores healed. The best way to prevent mucosal leishmaniasis is to treat the cutaneous infection before it spreads.

If not treated, visceral leishmaniasis can cause death.

Source : CDC's fact sheet on Leishmaniasis.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/leishmania/factsht_leishmania.htm

[donsu]

10. perhaps Pakistan can't get this new drug?

or cannot afford it. you know, like AIDs - you can treat it if you can afford to or can obtain the pharms.

what's incurable in one country may be very curable in another.

[treepig]

12. it's a parasite

sometimes the immune system can effect a cure all by itself.

sometimes not. hence the CDC's warning about what will happen if it's untreated.

sure, there are probably people in pakistan that don't have access to medical care for leishmania. just like the 300,000,000 odd people who are not properly treated (or treated at all) for malaria each year.

i have no idea whether the u.s. troops are being treated adequately or not. if not, it's not because such a treatment is not available, it's more like just another example of the total disregard for their health and well-being by the bush administration - this is a social/political problem, not a medical problem.