Army surgeon general sends teams to probe deadly illness among soldiers in Iraq

Associated Press ^ | 08-01-03

[Brian S]

The Army is trying to figure out what is causing a rash of serious pneumonia cases, including two fatalities, among soldiers serving in Iraq.

A six-person team of specialists was en route to Iraq Friday to investigate 14 cases of pneumonia serious enough that the soldiers had to be put on ventilators to breathe and evacuated from the region, the Army Surgeon General's office said Friday.

[IYAS9YAS]

What about background on the soldiers? Asthma that wouldn't normally show up, but combined with the heat and stress, causing problems. Some other problem, that when combined with the heat and stress of the situation manifesting itself.

[FairOpinion]

More detail from an earlier story about the illness:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955450/posts

[FairOpinion]

ping -- follow up on an earlier story,
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955450/posts

you may want to ping your SARS list. SARS has been ruled out, but it looks like something serious.

[FairOpinion]

In an earlier thread, which gives more details about thesyptoms and how the soldiers mayhave contracted it:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955450/posts

we've been speculating about the possibility of ricin poison.

[First_Salute]

Bump. Yep. It's likely mechanical; basic thermodynamics exceeding the capacity for some of them.

[maestropepper]

I recently found this board because of a cross post on a military message board for 3rd ACR. My son is in Iraq. In a recent letter (3 weeks old), he told me his buddy who is healthy, strong and athletic, was fine one minute and 5 minutes later was unconscious and bleeding from the nose. My son remarked that he hoped it wasn't contagious because he started his IV. In a phone call this past week, he said he heard his friend had double pneumonia. Since reading news articles, I'm afraid that's not it at all.

Last night, MSNBC did a report on this illness now being called Gulf War Syndrome II. They additionally report that the military did not follow public law enacted because of Gulf War Syndrome I in that blood should have been drawn from every soldier before deploying. Now those soldiers with this disease cannot have blood comparisons done.

[flutters]

You may want to ping your SARS list. SARS has been ruled out, but it looks like something serious.

Darn it. My ping list is home and I'm at the office. I'm heading to the river in 2 hours and won't be able to ping until Monday. I'll ping aristeides and backhkoe. They have good list.

[flutters]

Welcome to FreeRepublic, maestropepper. God Speed to your son. I hope he stays safe and well. I'm sorry to hear about his buddy. Please keep us updated as to how he is doing. I'll keep all of you in my prayers tonight.

[FairOpinion]

"My son is in Iraq. In a recent letter (3 weeks old), he told me his buddy who is healthy, strong and athletic, was fine one minute and 5 minutes later was unconscious and bleeding from the nose. My son remarked that he hoped it wasn't contagious because he started his IV. In a phone call this past week, he said he heard his friend had double pneumonia. Since reading news articles, I'm afraid that's not it at all. "

---
Can you find out what your son's buddy was doing? Some of the soldiers who got ill were doing some clean up of the ground, I wonder if they may have stumbled onto some biological weapons site, and something like Ricin, which they may have inhaled with the dust.

==
How Does Ricin Work?

Ricin works by getting inside the cells of a person’s body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need. Without the proteins, cells die, and eventually the whole body can shut down and die.
Specific effects of ricin poisoning depend on whether ricin was inhaled, swallowed, or injected.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Ricin Exposure?

Inhalation: Within a few hours of inhaling significant amounts of ricin, the likely symptoms would be coughing, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, nausea, and aching muscles. Within the next few hours, the body’s airways (such as lungs) would become severely inflamed (swollen and hot), excess fluid would build up in the lungs, breathing would become even more difficult, and the skin might turn blue. Excess fluid in the lungs would be diagnosed by x-ray or by listening to the chest with a stethoscope.

Ingestion: If someone swallows a significant amount of ricin, he or she would have internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines that would lead to vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Eventually, the person’s liver, spleen, and kidneys might stop working, and the person could die.

Injection: Injection of a lethal amount of ricin at first would cause the muscles and lymph nodes near the injection site to die. Eventually, the liver, kidneys, and spleen would stop working, and the person would have massive bleeding from the stomach and intestines. The person would die from multiple organ failure.

Death from ricin poisoning could take place within 36 to 48 hours of exposure, whether by injection, ingestion, or inhalation. If the person lives longer than 5 days without complications, he or she will probably not die.

Showing these signs and symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person has been exposed to ricin.

How Is Ricin Poisoning Treated?

No antidote exists for ricin. Ricin poisoning is treated by giving the victim supportive medical care to minimize the effects of the poisoning. The types of supportive medical care would depend on several factors, such as the route by which the victim was poisoned (that is, by inhalation, ingestion, or injection). Care could include such measures as helping the victim breathe and giving him or her intravenous fluids and medications to treat swelling.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/faq/index.asp


In another source I read that Saddam was producing ricin as a bioweapon agent and his stockpile was unaccounted for.

[aristeides]

This doesn't sound like SARS to me, but I've been asked to ping my SARS list.

[Prince Charles]

Sounds like a Hantavirus-type of malady.

[mewzilla]

Someone, an expert interviewed on MSNB a while ago, said that they were ruling out SARS because this disease was involving other organs like the kidneys. But they didn't have a handle on what the causative agent was, though any kind of environmental/chemical exposure was low on the suspect list so far.

[tortoise]

In another source I read that Saddam was producing ricin as a bioweapon agent and his stockpile was unaccounted for.

Ricin is easily detectable in the body at sub-toxic levels. If there was any suspicion, they would have included this in a blood assay.

[FairOpinion]

"Ricin is easily detectable in the body at sub-toxic levels."

----

I am no expert, but the CDC says it isn't, and read elsewhere too that any traces get out of the system within hours.

Fro CDC:

How Do We Know for Sure Whether People Have Been Exposed to Ricin?

If we suspect that people have inhaled ricin, a possible clue would be that a large number of people who had been close to each other suddenly developed fever, cough, and excess fluid in their lungs. These symptoms could be followed by severe breathing problems and possibly death.

No widely available, reliable test exists to confirm that a person has been exposed to ricin.

[blam]

I asked a doctor at the VA hospital in Biloxi yesterday what she thought about these reports. She hadn't heard about them. She was an ear, nose & throat specialist though.

[tortoise]

No widely available, reliable test exists to confirm that a person has been exposed to ricin.

It might be the "widely available" part. I do know that there are extremely sensitive tests that can be done from tissue samples at exposure levels below symptomatic.

[FairOpinion]

I hope they have done those tests on the soldiers to confir or ruleout.

The whole thing sounds very peculiar.

[fatima]

Bump

[armymarinemom]

I know that they say they have R/O sars but I seem to remember that SARS had mutated in a couple of cases to cause multi-organ problems. Does anyone have info on that?