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2007-12-04 Iraq

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Posted by lotp 2007-12-04 10:03|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 For some reason, that article is tooth gnashingly bad, for the reason that it is filtered through the lens of "The impact of Hello Kitty on military operations."

Granted, Americans are as a rule not familiar with cholera, but it is a disease with known parameters, known treatments, and known preventative measures. In this case, its effect on Coalition forces, Iraqi Army, and most likely the insurgents approaches nil.

It affects civilians living in filth. When the filth is mitigated, the disease goes away. This is why cholera is almost exclusively an African disease, with occasional outbreaks in South America:

http://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/disease/cholera/en/

The solution to cholera in Iraq could be a single clinic opened to the public in the epidemic area by a US forces medical unit. They would issue out 1 ounce plastic bottles of chlorine bleach for households. 128 to a gallon, which costs about $1.50.

Then tell them and their tribal leaders about cholera, how to put a few drops of bleach in their water, stir it up and let it sit for 10 minutes, and it will be fine for drinking.

Iraqis know what bleach is, so superstitious fear would be at a minimum. We could even pay some Iraqis to pour a gallon of bleach into nasty looking sewage water openings. Cheap as hell. Highly effective.

The outbreak would be over in a week.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-12-04 11:02|| 2007-12-04 11:02|| Front Page Top

#2 The ONLY way to get cholera is to drink water that people have shit in. There is NO other way.

Posted by gromky 2007-12-04 11:21|| 2007-12-04 11:21|| Front Page Top

#3 Anonymoose, you must have missed this excerpt from the article:

Another perverse circumstance is that chlorine is often used to treat cholera-infected water, but because insurgents have started using chlorine trucks in bombing attacks, restrictions on chlorine distribution have led to reduced water treatment and possibly increased the prevalence of cholera ....

What he's getting at indirectly is the potential destabilizing effect of not getting a serious hold on the infrastructure issue there. The "outbreak" will NOT be "over in a week" so long as the infrastructure doesn't exist to create sanitary conditions.

Given the asymmetric nature of conflict, which group do we expect to be more affected by an epidemic: large, centralized conventional military forces or small, agile insurgent units?

He's speaking about the Iraqi forces in that last sentence IIUC.

Posted by lotp 2007-12-04 12:13|| 2007-12-04 12:13|| Front Page Top

#4 BTW, I don't necessarily agree with Drapeau's tone. He's fairly young and is angling for a job in 2008 when his fellowship at NDU runs out.

However he isn't simply throwing spears at DOD - a lot of his career to date has been focused on military implications of bio- & genetic research and has had DOD funding.

Posted by lotp 2007-12-04 12:27|| 2007-12-04 12:27|| Front Page Top

#5 The EU folks use ozone instead of chlorine to purify the water. Works fine.

Posted by 3dc 2007-12-04 13:39|| 2007-12-04 13:39|| Front Page Top

#6 Mr. Moosey said,
It affects civilians living in filth. When the filth is mitigated, the disease goes away. This is why cholera is almost exclusively an African disease, with occasional outbreaks in South America:

the first bit is right on Moosey, the last bit is pure KaKa Doody.

Moose The KEY Is contaminated drinking water and untreated sewage awash and amongst people in communities all over the world.... Not Continents.

So that's why after every rainy season, Bangladesh suffers from major outbreaks of Cholera. And many drug resistant strains like Vibrio cholerae [strain O139]

Bangladesh, Asia in general there are many an outbreak of Cholera....

the article above references a Cholera outbreak in the Middle East..

Posted by Red Dawg">Red Dawg 2007-12-04 15:37|| 2007-12-04 15:37|| Front Page Top

#7 so teach them to boil their water before drinking it or brushing their teeth. They aren't helpless babies.

Posted by Whomong Guelph4611 2007-12-04 17:11|| 2007-12-04 17:11|| Front Page Top

#8 Check out this related video:
http://www.break.com/index/never-use-the-glasses-in-your-hotel-room.html

Posted by USN,Ret. 2007-12-04 17:36|| 2007-12-04 17:36|| Front Page Top

#9 Using UV to disinfect is good. However there is no disinfectant residual left in the potable water, so given the right environment in distribution pipes, nasties could grow in there. That is why in the US, chlorine, chlorine solutions, chloramine, etc is used in water.

And pathogens take the form of bacteria and viruses.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2007-12-04 20:22|| 2007-12-04 20:22|| Front Page Top

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