2 more U.S. soldiers develop severe pneumonia, put on ventilators; 100 troops afflicted since 3/1

News-Leader ^ | 08-01-03

[Brian S]

Two more U.S. soldiers serving in the Middle East were placed on ventilators this week after developing severe pneumonia, Army officials said Thursday. Since March 1, approximately 100 troops have been afflicted with the illness, according to a news release from the Army Surgeon General. Of those cases, 14 have been placed on respirators and two have died

[ChadGore]

This is news ?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

.

[OXENinFLA]

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955712/posts

Previous stories here....

[Chancellor Palpatine]

.

[ChefKeith]

If You knew any of these people it would be.

[TennTuxedo]

Where are these soldiers working within Iraq and what have they been doing?

Have these sick soldiers been invovled in the search for Iraq's WMD program? It does raise a thinking man's suspicions.

[Athelas]

Yes, its news. Very bad news. Pneumonia amoung healthy young men is incredibly rare.

I don't know what's going on over there but this absolutely isn't normal.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

"Army-wide, pneumonia cases serious enough to warrant hospitalization happen in about 9 of 10,000 soldiers per year. Given the number of troops deployed, the 100 cases "do not exceed expectations," the surgeon general's office said."
http://www.newsday.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=sns-ap-iraq-soldier-illness&section=%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fwire
This article seems to suggest you are wrong.

[Tunehead54]

Neusche's parents, Mark and Cynthia Neusche, say doctors told them their son's liver, kidneys and muscles broke down — occurrences the surgeon general's office say are rare in cases of pneumonia.

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It may not be "just" pneumonia. Other threads have suggested ricin poisoning - I've not read whether it can be aerolsized (sp) but that could explain the pneumonia symptoms with organ failure. :-( Hope we're tracing carefully where these guys were in Iraq.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

But, the article I linked, mentions they are spread widely over Iraq. That makes it harder to determine a cause.

Then again, a good portion of the country could be contaminated by anything. I doubt that Hussein was too worried about civilians being placed in potential danger.

[Athelas]

I saw that article, but the stats they published don't agree with it. The infection rate they've just published is approximately 15.6 per 10,000 as opposed to the norm he describes as 9 per 10,000. Any epidemiologist would find that alarming. Which is why they are sending teams over there I would assume.

[mewzilla]

Wonder which occurs first, the pneumonia or the problems with the other organs? And I wonder if this could be something that's been seen in Iraq for so long the general population may be immune to it, or it's just never been recognized because the health care system there is so poor. Wonder if our docs are talking to the local docs to see if the Iraqis have ever seen anything like this.

[philetus]

Personally, I think there are some sneaky chemical attacks against our troops.

[AAABEST]

This is news?

WTF kind of a st00pit-assed non-think question is that? You don't consider healthy troops dying of a particular disease at nearly the rate of enemy kills "news"?

[PatrioticAmerican]

"Pneumonia amoung healthy young men is incredibly rare. "

Not really. I've had it four times in my life at 5, 12, 28, and 31. Physical stress can bring it on under the right conditions, scuh as a high altitude combined with wet and cold.

[r9etb]

Yes, its news. Very bad news. Pneumonia amoung healthy young men is incredibly rare.

They're young, but a combination of stress, very high temperatures (in hot helmets and flack jackets), and being physically run-down could make them susceptible to things.

I don't know what's going on over there but this absolutely isn't normal.

IIRC, you can catch some pretty nasty, naturally-occurring things in the Iraqi desert. It's possible this is one of them.

It's still alarming, though.