Guest guest Posted August 6, 2003 Report Share Posted August 6, 2003 > 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 > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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