thedrifter
09-02-03, 05:51 AM
08-28-2003
Army Silence over Mystery Illness Is Troubling
By George Bones
Sporadic reports of a severe respiratory illness attacking our soldiers in Iraq and surrounding countries have been trickling through peripheral media channels during the past several weeks.
This alarming information has received surprisingly little attention from the mainstream media. Of more concern to me is that even less information about the mystery illness has been coming through official DoD channels to those of us who are entrusted with the health of our soldiers.
According to published reports, more than 100 cases of pneumonia have been reported among our troops serving in the Iraqi theater of operations since March. That number by itself is not remarkable considering the number of troops deployed in the area.
What is remarkable is that seventeen soldiers were sick enough to require mechanical ventilation (a “breathing machine”) and two died. A representative of the Army Surgeon General’s office said that ten of the twelve serious cases occurred in Iraq, and others came from Kuwait, Qatar and even Uzbekistan. Two of the seriously ill soldiers were put on ventilators just within the past couple of weeks.
The Army dispatched two teams of investigators to look into the matter more than two weeks ago. Either these teams have so far failed to discover any significant information, or the details of whatever they have discovered are not being shared with the public (or even the rest of the military health care community). Nobody seems to have a clue yet about what is actually going on. Even the infectious disease experts at the Army’s flagship hospital, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, say that they aren’t getting any real information.
Meanwhile – as is always the case in an information vacuum – the rumors are starting to fly. The official line is that there is “no evidence to support” that any of this is due to a chemical or biological agent (that’s very reassuring – right!). Soldiers and their families don’t seem very reassured, and I don’t blame them. Recent Army press releases have offered a few scraps of information, but no real details.
Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said this:
“From what we have learned so far, it appears there are a series of unusual pneumonia cases that have occurred in Southwest Asia. These cases do not represent an epidemic, and it is not being spread through person-to-person contact. We are making significant progress in eliminating a number of possible causes, such as SARS and vaccines. Our investigatory process is helping to determine whether there is a single explanation or whether there are multiple cases. Understanding the cause[s] is important to prevent future cases.”
Translation: We’re looking into it, and we haven’t ruled anything out yet.
Col. Bruno Petruccelli, director, epidemiology and disease surveillance at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, said, “There is evidence that 10 of the cases have shown a higher-than-usual number of blood cells of one specific type called eosinophils. An increase in this type of white blood cell can occur in a variety of medical conditions, for example, infections, asthma, hay fever, and allergies. Medical personnel are trying to determine why some of the 19 patients with severe pneumonia showed an increase in these cells.”
The preceding paragraph may at first sound like the Army is finally giving some specifics. But to the trained eye, this gobbledygook only raises more questions. I’d like to know where these eosinophils came from. Were they found in the lungs or the bloodstream? What were the other laboratory and autopsy findings? Why aren’t they telling us?
The Army’s stonewalling is starting to raise suspicions. If the “experts” on the scene simply don’t know what is going on yet, then they need to do a hell of a lot better job of convincing our troops and their families that they are coming clean.
Some troops are starting to suspect vaccinations as the cause. There are whispers of secret operations and cover-ups.
Personally, I don’t buy into these theories. From a scientific point of view, the vaccination idea doesn’t hold much water. And the cases were too geographically scattered to have been caused during some clandestine op. It’s more likely that the Army really doesn’t know what is going on yet, but is afraid to say so. But it is the lack of information coming through official channels that has me concerned.
It’s entirely possible that this whole thing may – as some officials have insinuated – turn out to be little more than a statistical blip, a normal periodic bump in the pattern of diseases among such a large population of troops. If that’s so, then the Army should be working hard to get the facts out.
There is nothing wrong with saying that you haven’t figured out what is going on if you make all of the facts that you do have available. But the “zero defect” mentality seems to be preventing that course of action.
So until we get the facts, hold your breath. Something smells rotten.
George Bones is the pen name for a U.S. Army physician who covers medical issues as a DefenseWatch Contributing Editor. The opinions expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect any official policy or position of the DoD, the Army or the Army Medical Department. He can be reached at bonesbag911@yahoo.com.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=180&rnd=357.35519523602403
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Army Silence over Mystery Illness Is Troubling
By George Bones
Sporadic reports of a severe respiratory illness attacking our soldiers in Iraq and surrounding countries have been trickling through peripheral media channels during the past several weeks.
This alarming information has received surprisingly little attention from the mainstream media. Of more concern to me is that even less information about the mystery illness has been coming through official DoD channels to those of us who are entrusted with the health of our soldiers.
According to published reports, more than 100 cases of pneumonia have been reported among our troops serving in the Iraqi theater of operations since March. That number by itself is not remarkable considering the number of troops deployed in the area.
What is remarkable is that seventeen soldiers were sick enough to require mechanical ventilation (a “breathing machine”) and two died. A representative of the Army Surgeon General’s office said that ten of the twelve serious cases occurred in Iraq, and others came from Kuwait, Qatar and even Uzbekistan. Two of the seriously ill soldiers were put on ventilators just within the past couple of weeks.
The Army dispatched two teams of investigators to look into the matter more than two weeks ago. Either these teams have so far failed to discover any significant information, or the details of whatever they have discovered are not being shared with the public (or even the rest of the military health care community). Nobody seems to have a clue yet about what is actually going on. Even the infectious disease experts at the Army’s flagship hospital, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, say that they aren’t getting any real information.
Meanwhile – as is always the case in an information vacuum – the rumors are starting to fly. The official line is that there is “no evidence to support” that any of this is due to a chemical or biological agent (that’s very reassuring – right!). Soldiers and their families don’t seem very reassured, and I don’t blame them. Recent Army press releases have offered a few scraps of information, but no real details.
Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said this:
“From what we have learned so far, it appears there are a series of unusual pneumonia cases that have occurred in Southwest Asia. These cases do not represent an epidemic, and it is not being spread through person-to-person contact. We are making significant progress in eliminating a number of possible causes, such as SARS and vaccines. Our investigatory process is helping to determine whether there is a single explanation or whether there are multiple cases. Understanding the cause[s] is important to prevent future cases.”
Translation: We’re looking into it, and we haven’t ruled anything out yet.
Col. Bruno Petruccelli, director, epidemiology and disease surveillance at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, said, “There is evidence that 10 of the cases have shown a higher-than-usual number of blood cells of one specific type called eosinophils. An increase in this type of white blood cell can occur in a variety of medical conditions, for example, infections, asthma, hay fever, and allergies. Medical personnel are trying to determine why some of the 19 patients with severe pneumonia showed an increase in these cells.”
The preceding paragraph may at first sound like the Army is finally giving some specifics. But to the trained eye, this gobbledygook only raises more questions. I’d like to know where these eosinophils came from. Were they found in the lungs or the bloodstream? What were the other laboratory and autopsy findings? Why aren’t they telling us?
The Army’s stonewalling is starting to raise suspicions. If the “experts” on the scene simply don’t know what is going on yet, then they need to do a hell of a lot better job of convincing our troops and their families that they are coming clean.
Some troops are starting to suspect vaccinations as the cause. There are whispers of secret operations and cover-ups.
Personally, I don’t buy into these theories. From a scientific point of view, the vaccination idea doesn’t hold much water. And the cases were too geographically scattered to have been caused during some clandestine op. It’s more likely that the Army really doesn’t know what is going on yet, but is afraid to say so. But it is the lack of information coming through official channels that has me concerned.
It’s entirely possible that this whole thing may – as some officials have insinuated – turn out to be little more than a statistical blip, a normal periodic bump in the pattern of diseases among such a large population of troops. If that’s so, then the Army should be working hard to get the facts out.
There is nothing wrong with saying that you haven’t figured out what is going on if you make all of the facts that you do have available. But the “zero defect” mentality seems to be preventing that course of action.
So until we get the facts, hold your breath. Something smells rotten.
George Bones is the pen name for a U.S. Army physician who covers medical issues as a DefenseWatch Contributing Editor. The opinions expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect any official policy or position of the DoD, the Army or the Army Medical Department. He can be reached at bonesbag911@yahoo.com.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=180&rnd=357.35519523602403
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: