Army investigates pneumonia cases, two deaths among troops

[Guest guest]

There are more then just TWO cases and more will come, thanks to all those

" vaccinations " all at once, and of course, the depleted uranium dust,

OOPS, I mean the " desert dust " that the news was talking about ... WAKE UP

PEOPLE

 

 

> August 5, 2003

>

> Army investigates pneumonia cases, two deaths among troops

>

> By Katherine McIntire Peters

> <kpeterskpeters

>

> The Army surgeon general has deployed two teams of epidemiologists to

> investigate about 100 cases of pneumonia that have occurred among deployed

> troops since March 1. Two soldiers have died, and 13 others have been so

> severely affected that they have required ventilators to breathe.

>

> The teams were dispatched to the Middle East, where most of the illnesses

> have developed, and to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany,

> where most of the seriously ill troops are being treated. Defense

officials

> say there is currently no evidence to indicate the illnesses are the

result

> of bioterrorism.

>

> Col. Robert DeFraites, the senior preventive medicine officer in the

Office

> of the Army Surgeon General, said the illnesses may not be an anomalythe

> Army typically experiences between 400 and 500 cases of pneumonia every

> year, and in the last five years, 17 soldiers have died from complications

> of pneumonia. Because so many troops are deployed to the Middle East, it

is

> not surprising that so many cases of the illness are originating there, he

> said.

>

> In a briefing for reporters at the Pentagon, DeFraites said that at this

> point, there is no clear pattern to the illnesses, and there is no

> indication that any of the cases were spread from one person to another.

We

> are sufficiently concerned about especially the more severe pneumonias

that

> the epidemiological consultation was warranted,he said.

>

> There are basically two types of pneumonia: illness that results from

> infectious causes, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi; and

> illness caused by environmental conditions, such as dust, metals or smoke,

> DeFraites said. So far, investigators have found that bacteria was the

> cause of two illnesses. The cause of pneumonia in the two deaths is still

> under investigation. The goal of the epidemiologists will be to determine

> if there are any patterns to the cases, and to assess the effectiveness of

> medical treatment.

>

> Were approaching this from a prevention and treatment focus to see if

there

> is some way we can intervene to protect the health of the troops and then

> to treat them better,DeFraites said.

>

> http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0803/080503kp1.htm

>