Mystery pneumonia toll may be much higher

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> Mystery pneumonia toll may be much higher

>

> By Mark Benjamin

> UPI Investigations Editor

> Published 9/16/2003 2:45 PM

> View printer-friendly version

>

> WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Mysterious pneumonia-like illnesses and

> breathing problems appear to be striking U.S. troops in greater numbers

> than the military has identified in an investigation -- including more

> deaths, according to soldiers and their families.

>

> Some of the soldiers were deployed to Iraq and died but are not part of

the

> Pentagon's investigation. Others who got ill told United Press

> International they suffered a pneumonia-like illness after being given

> vaccines, particularly the anthrax shot.

>

> The Pentagon said it is committed to the health of military personnel and

> that some dead or ill soldiers do not meet criteria for the investigation.

> Pentagon health officials said a statistical analysis essentially has

ruled

> out vaccines and that the role of smoking has emerged as a leading factor

> instead.

>

> One Air Force staff sergeant who was deployed to Turkey for Operation

Iraqi

> Freedom told UPI he was hospitalized in Incerlik in March with a

> pneumonia-like illness, 10 days after his fourth anthrax shot. He got his

> next anthrax shot in August, and 10 days later was hospitalized in

> California with what he said was the same pneumonia-like illness.

>

> " They said I had considerable inflammation of the lungs, " said Staff Sgt.

> Neal B. Erickson Sr., 43, in a telephone interview from Moffett Field

south

> of San Francisco. " I had severe chest pains, dizziness and shortness of

> breath. "

>

> He said he does not smoke and that doctors thought he had blood clots or a

> heart attack. Tests for viruses or bacteria " came back clean, " Erickson

> said. " They basically labeled it as a type of pneumonia. "

>

> He said the military is not recognizing that the shots made him sick and

> that he is afraid of getting the next anthrax shot, scheduled in five

months.

>

> " I'm real touchy here. Come a few more months, I'm in line to get another.

> It's not like we have a choice in the matter. " Military personnel are

> required to take the shots and can be court-martialed if they refuse.

>

> Erickson said there are at least four similar cases in his squadron,

> including one hospitalization.

>

> The Pentagon is investigating what it says is a mysterious pneumonia

> cluster that has sickened around 100 soldiers deployed across Southwest

> Asia. " I'll bet I'm not in (the Pentagon's) numbers, " Erickson said.

>

> Pentagon health officials repeatedly have emphasized that the number of

> sick soldiers in their investigation show there is no " epidemic " among

U.S.

> troops. They are concentrating on 19 service members who have gotten so

> sick they needed ventilators to breathe; two of those died.

>

> " We do not have an epidemic, " Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health

> Affairs William Winkenwerder Jr. told reporters last week. " The rates of

> pneumonia among personnel deployed to Southwest Asia in the past six

months

> are consistent with what we would have expected, and we have data that

> strongly supports that. "

>

> The Pentagon has identified two deaths in its investigation: the July 12

> death of Army Spc. Joshua M. Neusche, 20; and the June 17 death of Army

> Sgt. Michael L. Tosto, 24. Neusche's family wrote Secretary of Defense

> Donald Rumsfeld last month seeking an independent investigation of his

> death. Tosto's wife, Stephanie, told UPI last month she was frustrated at

> the lack of information on her husband's death, but said she thinks

> vaccines played a role.

>

> At least two more soldiers deployed to Iraq died with fluid in their

lungs,

> according to their families; one of those was found dead in his cot. The

> Pentagon has not released any information on two more soldiers found dead

> in Iraq under similar circumstances. In a fifth case, a 20-year-old died

> after what the Pentagon said were " breathing difficulties " and his mother

> has said she wants more information.

>

> At least two more soldiers died after experiencing chest pain, including

> the Aug. 27 death of 43-year-old Lt. Col Anthony L. Sherman, who competed

> in triathlons and marathons. " The only thing they had to tell me was

severe

> myocardial infarction, " said his wife, Lisa Ann, from Pottstown, Pa. " In

my

> heart of hearts, I believe there was more to it than just a heart attack.

> He was in too good of shape. "

>

> All of those deaths appear on the Pentagon list of non-combat related

> fatalities but were not included in the pneumonia investigation.

>

> The Pentagon said that in its investigation, it has focused on a specific

> group of ill soldiers. " Other cases are medically reviewed separately

> because it would be scientifically inappropriate to combine the reviews, "

> Pentagon medical officials told UPI in a written statement.

>

> The investigation is focused on serious cases of illness that occurred

> between March 1 and Aug. 31 among military personnel who were deployed and

> who report to the United States Central Command, which includes the Horn

of

> Africa, South and Central Asia and the Northern Red Sea regions, as well

as

> the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq. Pentagon investigators are focusing on

> soldiers who developed pneumonia in both lungs and were placed on

> ventilators to breathe.

>

> Some civilian doctors said those parameters are too narrow and ignore

cases

> that could help identify the cause.

>

> " I think the military is making a scientific mistake by restricting the

> region from which they are collecting these cases, " said Dr. Meryl Nass, a

> doctor who treats soldiers who say they were harmed by vaccines. " There is

> no scientific reason to limit the geographical envelope from which cases

> are identified, " Nass said. " You want to capture as many cases as possible

> to investigate, in order to get a broad outline of all the features of the

> disease. "

>

> Pentagon officials said their statistical analysis shows that vaccinated

> military personnel are no more likely to develop pneumonia than

> unvaccinated soldiers. Nor are they more likely to develop it soon after

> getting vaccinated.

>

> " We knew beforehand that the rate of pneumonia in anthrax-vaccinated

people

> and in anthrax-unvaccinated people were essentially the same, so our

> starting point was that this was unlikely, " Col. John Grabenstein, deputy

> director of the Military Vaccine Office, told reporters.

>

> Pentagon health officials said 10 of the 19 cases they are studying had

> eosinophilia, or the presence of a large number of a specific kind of

white

> blood cell that can indicate an allergic response. Doctors have been

unable

> to detect any virus or bacteria that might have caused the illness in

those

> cases.

>

> A reaction to a drug might cause eosinophilia, according to the Centers

for

> Disease Control doctor assisting the military in the investigation, Dr.

> Steve Ostroff.

>

> " Obviously, one can have an allergy to a particular type of medication ...

> and that is certainly a line of investigation we can't entirely exclude, "

> Ostroff told reporters. " There doesn't seem to be any particular type of

> unifying treatment that was given to these individuals. "

>

> A civilian doctor questioned that logic.

>

> " They keep saying there is no common exposure, but every one of those

> soldiers got vaccinated, " said Dr. Jeffrey Sartin, an infectious diseases

> doctor at the Gundersen Clinic in La Crosse, Wis. " That is one definite

> common exposure that should not be dismissed out of hand. "

>

> " Statistics by themselves only give you part of the story, " said Sartin, a

> former Air Force doctor. " They are getting a bird's eye view of the forest

> but they are not getting down and looking at the trees. "

>

> This spring, Sartin treated Army Spc. Rachel Lacy of Lynwood, Ill., who

> died April 4 after a pneumonia-like illness. He and a coroner linked that

> soldier's death to either the anthrax or smallpox vaccines she had

received

> March 2, before falling ill.

>

> Lacy's June 3 death certificate lists vaccines as a possible cause for her

> lung damage, heart inflammation " with eosinophils, " and " lupus-like

> autoimmune disease. "

>

> The military, which did not treat her or perform the autopsy, said her

> death was likely not due to vaccines.

>

> A number of soldiers who were not deployed said the anthrax vaccine made

> them sick.

>

> Army Pvt. Dennis W. Drew, 27, got his first anthrax shot April 24 at Fort

> Hood, Texas, in preparation for going to Iraq. He started feeling ill

April

> 27.

>

> " I started getting a real sharp pain in my chest. I had a hard time

> breathing and every time I moved, my chest hurt. " Drew said. " I checked

> into a hospital and I found out I had pneumonia in my left lung and

> myocarditis, a swelling of the heart. Basically, my health has been going

> down hill ever since. "

>

> Drew says he quit smoking four years ago and was in good shape. In

addition

> to his pneumonia, he said he has since suffered from severe headaches,

loss

> of peripheral vision and constant colds. " It is like my immune system does

> not work anymore, " he said. " When I first got to Fort Hood, the doctor

> there thought the myocarditis might have been caused by the vaccine. "

>

> Drew wrote to Congress about his belief that the vaccine has ruined his

> life with his wife and two small children.

>

> " I would invite anyone who doesn't believe in the adverse reaction of the

> anthrax vaccine to come spend a day in my home to see first hand what my

> family and I go through, " Drew wrote to House National Security

> Subcommittee Chairman Chris Shays, R-Conn., on Aug. 31. " We are just

> victims of wanting to serve our country. "

>

> Drew said he knows of three other similar cases at Fort Hood.

>

> Among deaths of soldiers with pneumonia-like symptoms and breathing

> problems who served in operation Iraqi Freedom, and are not included in

the

> Pentagon investigation:

>

> -- Army Spc. Zeferino E. Colunga, 20, of Bellville, Texas. Colunga died on

> Aug. 6 after being evacuated from Iraq to Germany. Colunga's family wrote

> Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last month seeking an independent

> analysis of his death from " this 'so-called' mystery illness. " The family

> said Colunga " died at a hospital in Germany after a battle with pneumonia

> and a subsequent diagnosis of acute leukemia. We deserve to know why a

> healthy young man who was supposedly screened and determined fit for

> deployment would suddenly die, " the letter says. The military specifically

> ruled out Colunga's death as part of the pneumonia cluster.

>

> -- Army Spc. Cory A. Hubbell, 20, of Urbana, Ill. Hubbel died June 26 from

> what has been reported as " breathing difficulties, " and listed by the

> Pentagon as a " non-combat related cause. " He died after being hospitalized

> at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Hubbel's mother, Connie Bickers, told the

> Champaign News-Gazette that the Army is not giving her many answers on the

> death.

>

> -- Army Spc. Levi B. Kinchen, 21, of Tickfaw, La. Tickfaw died Aug. 9 in

> Baghdad. A fellow soldier tried to wake him and noticed he was not

> breathing, according to the Pentagon. He was assigned to 2nd Armored

> Cavalry Regiment, Fort Polk, La.

>

> -- Army Staff Sergeant Richard S. Eaton Jr., 37, of Guilford, Conn. Eaton

> was found dead on the morning of Aug. 12. The military has told the family

> that Eaton died of pulmonary edema, or fluid in his lungs, that might have

> been heat-related. Eaton's father Richard told UPI he has no reason to

> doubt the Army's explanation, but he said he has not received a final

> report on his son.

>

> -- Army Pvt. Matthew D. Bush, 20, of East Alton, Ill. Bush died Aug. 8 in

> Camp Caldwell, Iraq. A fellow soldier tried to wake him and noticed he was

> not breathing, according to the Pentagon. Pentagon officials have

indicated

> that his death might have been heat-related.

>

> -- Army Staff Sgt. David L. Loyd, 44, of Jackson, Tenn. Loyd died Aug. 5

in

> a Kuwaiti hospital after he experienced severe chest pains while on a

> mission. He was assigned to the 1175th Transportation Company, Army

> National Guard, Brownsville, Tenn.

>

> -- Lt. Col. Anthony L. Sherman, 43, of Pottstown, Pa. Sherman died on Aug.

> 27 in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The Pentagon said Sherman died " as a result of

> non-combat related injury (medical). " His wife, Lisa Ann, said the Army

> told her Sherman died of " a severe myocardial infarction. " She said she

was

> suspicious because he was a marathon runner. Sherman was assigned to the

> 304th Civil Affairs Brigade, U.S. Army Reserves, based in Philadelphia,

Pa.

>

> -- Army Spc. William A. Jeffries, 39, of Evansville, Ind. Jeffries died

> March 31 at a hospital in Spain after becoming sick in Kuwait. A military

> official reportedly told Jeffries' family that he suffered a blood clot in

> his lung and acute pancreatitis.

>

> -0-

>

> Photos are available with this story: FMP2003091601 through -1607.

> http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030915-014545-8114r

>