U.S. parents say son in Iraq was casualty of chemical weapons

Washington Times / London Sunday Telegraph ^ | 08-04-03

[Brian S]

The parents of an American soldier who died in Iraq after contracting a mysterious pneumonialike illness that ravaged his major organs are convinced that their son stumbled across deadly chemical weapons while clearing rubble from one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.

[DannyTN]

"nobody has the cojones"

You may be right. On the otherhand, these guys were young and healthy. What are the odds of them getting pnuemonia? Even in Iraq?

Are there factors we should be addressing, like the dryness? Should troops wear ventilators when clearing ruble, to prevent inhalation of dust, if not for fear of WMD?

It might be just a freak illness. On the otherhand, lets look at it closely and learn what we can. Don't dismiss it out of hand.

[flutters]

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

7 more cases of mystery illness (soldiers in Iraq)

[Darksheare]

I've had pneumonia more times than I can count, and having survived it without ill effect I have a hard time understanding why some people die from it.
Yes, it's miserable, energy draining, and makes you cough up orange glop.


I would suspect pneumonia plague in this case.
Which is a biological item of interest to our WMD searchers.
A smart move would be to correlate everything the sick GI's did, where they were, what they ate, what they did, what they touched, buildings they entered, even places they took bathrooms breaks at.
A nice moist area would be a good place to hide pneumonia plague weapons. And a loo would fit that to a 't'.

And agreed, God be with them.
And I hope my friend that's over in Iraq is nowhere near there. Get home safe G, you've got people waiting for ya.

[MEG33]

I think this one has them searching for answers.

[lepton]

Nasty stuff to take down the young and healthy.... Biological stay behind ambushes?

Young and healthy compared to a random sampling of older people. They are undoubtedly suffering from exhaustion regularly, which that plus any sort of cold gives many of the same symptoms as nerve agents, disguising the onset of an agent. This exhaustion would also make them more susceptible to disease than normal. Furthermore, they are undoubtedly coming across sizable numbers of diseases that that have never really been identified or that the medics aren't yet familiar with.

In short, it could be a bio or chem agent, or more likely, just being subject to new diseases. Hope they find out soon.

[lepton]

What are the odds of them getting pnuemonia?

Out of a hundred thousand, while exhausted, while pushing themselves so as to not get accused of "riding sick call", with a lot of irritants in the air, in an area with diseases they'd never come into contact before?

[verity]

I was on another board this morning, some of the troops are getting coughs and colds that wont go away and are not getting any treatment for it.

Do not get paranoid on me!

[5by5]

I'd also be curious whether the locals are succumbing the same disease.

[Darksheare]

Also something for those doing the checking to look into.
It might lead to something.

[boxerblues]

paranoid me??? these deaths and sickness's do tend to worry us mom's more than we already are, those are our babies over there.

[verity]

Check your mail!

[FairOpinion]

Some of the soldiers who came down with the illness were working in the same area cleaning it up.

They may have come across chemical weapons, which were mixed in with the soil, maybe leftover of a plant, or who knows.

[FairOpinion]

Earlier articles also mentioned kidney and liver failure, I think.

We were speculating that the symptoms may be consistent with ricin poisoning, which can be fatal in very tiny doses, but if the dose is below that, people can get sick and survive. Saddam is known to have had a lot of ricin, which was also not accounted for.

You can do a search under "mystery illness", those earlier articles may come up, or someone can post them in this thread.

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for the ping and for posting the links. Here is another one, the earliest, which has more info about the symptoms.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/953068/posts

Doctors there told the family they believed Josh suffered from pneumonia due to fluid that had collected on his lungs. But then his liver, kidneys and muscles started to break down, his mother said.

"They were doing some things there, trying to get his kidneys flushed out," she said through tears. "They told us his potassium levels came up so far and he needed to go on dialysis."

===

http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/healthtips/BCD/Ricin.htm

What are the symptoms of ricin poisoning?

Eating Castor beans or ricin-contaminated material causes diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, internal bleeding, liver and kidney failure, and circulatory failure. Rapid heartbeat can also occur. If the castor beans are swallowed whole, the poisoning will be less severe than if the beans are chewed. Breathing dust that contains ricin causes cough, weakness, fever, nausea, muscle aches, difficult breathing, chest pain, and cyanosis (blue skin). Breathing the dust can result in respiratory and circulatory failure. Exposure to concentrated ricin particles in the air is only likely during an act of bioterrorism where large numbers of people would likely experience the signs and symptoms in one place and time. Injection of ricin toxin would likely result in tissue (muscle) necrosis near the injection site, probable multiple organ failure, and death. All routes of exposure are very dangerous and can result in death.


And from the CDC:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/faq/index.asp

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.

[MEG33]

Interesting info.I recall the organ failure and that's why it had them baffled.I pray it is not poison.