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Vaccine link raised in U.S troops' deaths

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> Vaccine link raised in U.S troops' deaths

> By MARK BENJAMIN, UPI Investigations Editor

>

> WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army should look at whether the

> anthrax vaccine is behind the unexplained cluster of pneumonia cases among

> soldiers in Iraq, according to the co-author of a government-sponsored

> study that last year found the vaccine was the " possible or probable "

cause

> of pneumonia in two soldiers.

>

> Dr. John L. Sever of George Washington University Medical School told

> United Press International Tuesday that he expects the military to

consider

> the anthrax vaccine, among other possibilities, as it investigates

> pneumonia among soldiers in and around Iraq, where troops have been widely

> vaccinated against anthrax.

>

> The Pentagon announced Tuesday it is investigating 100 cases of pneumonia

> among soldiers in Iraq and southwestern Asia. Two have died. Fifteen have

> had to be placed on respirators.

>

> " As physicians, I would think they would be looking at all possible

causes.

> I would think vaccines would be part of that, " said Sever, a medical

> professor at George Washington who was one of six authors of the study.

> Col. Robert DeFraites from the Army Surgeon General's office told

reporters

> at the Pentagon briefing Tuesday that biological warfare -- including

> smallpox or anthrax -- was unlikely to be the cause of the pneumonia. He

> did not mention vaccines as a possible cause, and the issue was not raised

> by reporters.

>

> DeFraites and spokeswoman Virginia Stephanakis of the Army Surgeon

> General's office did not return calls Tuesday asking whether the Pentagon

> was looking into a possible vaccine connection.

>

> Sever said the anthrax vaccine study, printed in the May 2002 issue of

> Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, found that the vaccine was the

> " possible or probable " cause of pneumonia among two soldiers. The

> Department of Health and Human Services convened the group, called the

> Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee, which studied 602 reports of possible

> reactions to the vaccine among nearly 400,000 troops who received it,

Sever

> said.

>

> In addition to identifying pneumonia and flu-like symptoms among troops

who

> received the vaccine, the group also looked at four other cases of

> potentially serious reactions, including severe back pain and two soldiers

> who had sudden difficulty breathing in a possible allergic reaction to the

> vaccine.

>

> Sever described the two cases of pneumonia as " wheezing and difficulty

> breathing going into a pneumonia-like picture. "

>

> To conduct the study, the Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee examined

reports

> from the U.S. military to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

> they are anecdotal reports and do not necessarily show a cause-and-effect

> relationship.

>

> DeFraites said the two deaths under investigation by the Army Surgeon

> General occurred in June and July and that both soldiers had been in Iraq.

> He said the investigation began as soon as the first death occurred. In a

> case apparently not included in that total, 22-year-old Army specialist

> Rachael Lacy of Lynwood, Ill., died at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,

Minn.,

> on April 4 of what one doctor diagnosed as pneumonia, after receiving

> anthrax and smallpox vaccinations but without ever having been deployed.

>

> Dr. Eric Pfeifer, the Minnesota coroner who performed the autopsy, told

the

> Army Times that the smallpox and anthrax vaccines " may have " contributed

to

> her death. " It's just very suspicious in my mind...that she's healthy,

gets

> the vaccinations and then dies a couple weeks later. " He listed

> " post-vaccine " problems on the death certificate.

>

> Moses Lacy, Rachael Lacy's father, told the Army Times that she called in

> March and said she had chest pains and breathing problems and had been

> diagnosed with pneumonia.

>

> One service member who was deployed to Kuwait and received the four-shot

> anthrax series told United Press International Tuesday he developed

> bronchitis and a severe cough after receiving his shots, and that about a

> fifth of the troops he was deployed with had similar symptoms and were

> prescribed medicine to treat them. His symptoms continued after he

returned

> to the U.S., and he sought further treatment at a base clinic. He got

> better, but believes he nearly came down with pneumonia.

>

> The Pentagon dispatched two teams to look into the pneumonia: one to Iraq

> and another to a U.S. military base in Landstuhl, Germany, where some sick

> soldiers are treated.

> http://drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

>

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