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Seven MORE Cases of Mystery Illness in IRAQ
Military trying to identify malady that killed lake area soldierBy Marsha Paxson Lake Sun LAKE OF THE OZARKS -- Seven more soldiers in Iraq have contracted the same puzzling illness that has killed two soldiers, including one from the lake area. The latest cases bring the number of affected troops to 19. All have been evacuated to the same Landstuhl, Germany, hospital where Spec. Josh Neusche, 20, of Montreal was treated before he died July 12. It is believed Neusche contracted the illness, first thought to be pneumonia, while conducting cleanup operations with the 203rd Engineer Battalion in Baghdad. "The Army Surgeon General confirmed that three or four of the soldierâs in Joshâs unit are among those who got sick," Sen. Ike Skelton told the Lake Sun Tuesday. "I know Josh was stationed in Baghdad when he got sick but I still do not know what unit the second soldier (who died of the mysterious illness) was in, what his job was or where he was working when he became ill." Hmmm...you donât suppose we got a good old case of respiratory ANTHRAX do you???? Skelton said he had not yet been told which units the sick soldiers were attached to or where they might have been before they fell ill. U.S. Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. James Peake has ordered teams of medical experts and epidemiology specialists to retrace the soldiersâ steps from the second they set foot in the Middle East. If this was in New York City, we would have a mass panic on CNN. The interesting thing about this is he died over two weeks ago... "They are investigating everything it could possibly be," Skelton said. "Iâm confident that with medical science and the technological advances weâve made, we will get some positive answers." Skelton, who serves as the ranking Democrat of the House Armed Services Committee, contacted top officials with the Department of the Army when he first learned of Neuscheâs case in late June. Neuscheâs family could not afford to make the trip to Germany and was told he was in a coma, dying of a flu-like ailment. Fellow soldiers chipped in for airfare and Skelton expedited their passports and paperwork to get them to Germany in time. When Neuscheâs parents arrived in Germany on July 9, the illness had already begun ravaging his muscles, liver and kidneys. Neusche died in an ambulance on the way to another hospital for dialysis. Muscular Atrophy, Liver and Kidney Failure.......Any of you guys out there know your infectious diseases? Posted by: SOG475 2003-07-30 |
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