Posted on 10/07/2014 8:02:33 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The U.S. military mission to combat Ebola in West Africa is facing questions about the serious health risks American troops will encounter in heading to the epicenter of the deadly outbreak.
According to officials, a small group of trained military medical technicians on the ground will not be required to make direct contact with patients infected with the Ebola virus. However, they will have to handle infected blood samples, which Pentagon officials acknowledged Tuesday could be just as dangerous, if not more.
Already, three mobile-testing labs, staffed by three or four technicians each, have been deployed in Liberia as part of Operation United Assistance, the U.S. military's effort to combat the Ebola virus. Four more labs have been requested.
Pentagon officials say the servicemembers on these small teams are the only individuals who will be intentionally handling any raw material that could be infected....
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This is from about 5 weeks ago.
“The U.S. military, and in particular, the Army, has had a longstanding mission in preventing and treating infectious and parasitic diseases in troops, dating to the late 1800s.
The Armed Forces Press Service reported late Friday that military health workers, including an entomologist from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, already are in the affected area providing support ranging from logistical assistance to “clinical management” — assisting in treating affected populations.
“DoD personnel bring a level of excellence second to none, working in response to host nations and WHO in the most-affected countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia,” Army Col. James Cummings, a physician and director of the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center told AFPS.
Filoviruses like Ebola have been of interest to the Pentagon since the late 1970s, mainly because Ebola and its fellow viruses have high mortality rates — in the current outbreak, roughly 60 percent to 72 percent of those who have contracted the disease have died — and its stable nature in aerosol make it attractive as a potential biological weapon.
Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases have sought to develop a vaccine or treatment for the disease.
Last year, USAMRIID scientists used a treatment, MB-003, on primates infected with Ebola after they became symptomatic; the treatment fully protected the animals when given one hour after exposure.”
Soetoro is sending these troops to Africa to get them infected, so they can bring the virus back to infect more Americans.
You are correct sir, and we still have two more years of the Obungler. If they claim there is no danger to the troops, I am cynical enough to think every word that comes out of their mouths is a bald face lie.
What could go wrong?
Surprised he hasn’t put Susan Rice and Biden in charge
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Active Duty ping.
Then eight years of Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren.
Ping.
I don’t agree with military personnel being sent around the world on humanitarian missions unless it involves fighting.
Not if the goal is to remove them from deployment to the battle field due to quarantine.
Major ISIL offensive in what? 21 days?
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
Our Army needs to study the virus and develop strategies and training. Other nations’ armies are certainly doing so. Crazy? Of course. Our force needs to keep up. It’s been that way for even a little longer than I’ve been around (entered 13 weeks of OSUT in ‘89, when I was 31).
Maybe they’ll bring some little presents to ISIS.
I just threw up. Do you think it's Ebola, or just a reaction to the thought you expressed above?
Yes.
People, pray for our troops. This is is unfathomable.
Even if they perform their duties properly, this is too easily parlayed into anti-American propaganda claiming the US is practicing biological warfare in lesser developed countries.
When this happens, remember it was Obama who directed this.
Thank you for that info.
There is no doubt that USAMRIID and other global agencies were heavily involved in the bio-weapons defense labs in Africa. The more the virus is experimented on , the more chances it has for achieving a positive mutation. Whether by chance, mistake, or intent, there seems to be a new and not well understood mutation. It has beaten normal safeguards. It found a way out, and it seems to have made it to other continents.
How we deal with it will make all the difference. I think the more US Military guys we have handling transfer and security the quicker we can get a handle on the situation.
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