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12 Marines Contract Malaria in Liberia
EFL WASHINGTON (AP) - Twelve U.S. Marines who were in Liberia last month in support of a West African peacekeeping mission have contracted malaria and 21 other U.S. troops have symptoms of the disease, defense officials said Monday. Oh, *&!!#$%$@^&*!!!!!! This is not supposed to happen; Navy medics are aware of endemic malaria in the region and are supposed to make sure the Marines have, and TAKE, adequate prophylactic medicine. Arrrrrrrgh! Two of the Marines were flown from the USS Iwo Jima warship off the coast of Liberia to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on Saturday and 30 other Marines, plus one sailor, were flown from the ship Sunday to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., according to a brief statement from U.S. European Command, which is in charge of the Liberia mission. Lt. Col. Jay DeFrank, a Defense Department spokesman, said the Marines, members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., were in Liberia in mid-August as part of a U.S. quick-reaction force of about 150 U.S. troops. They operated from an airport outside Monrovia, the capital. In addition to the 12 confirmed cases of malaria, test results on the 21 other patients are pending, officials said. U.S. troops normally receive an anti-malarial drug regimen before deploying to a country like Liberia where there is risk of getting the disease. DeFrank said it was not immediately clear whether the Marines who fell ill had taken such medication. They didnât; thatâs obvious. According to the WHO at this link, malaria riskâpredominantly due to P. falciparumâexists throughout the year in the whole country. P. falciparum in that region is resistant to chloroquine and sulfadoxineâpyrimethamine, so the troops were supposed to take mefloquine. Details on the Marinesâ condition were not immediately available. The European Command statement said all 33 patients were responding to treatments, but it provided no other details. So now theyâre taking mefloquine. The two who were flown to Landstuhl exhibited more severe symptoms than the 31 others, officials said. European Command said it was unlikely that the illness presented a communicable disease risk to the other Marines and sailors aboard the ships. Not unless they brought the mosquitoes back as pets. Posted by: Steve White 2003-09-08 |
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