mrz
02-12-02, 10:23
Preventing Disease Tough in Afghanistan
DECEMBER 02, 02:34 ET
Preventing Disease Tough in Afghanistan
By MIKE ECKEL
Associated Press Writer
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — Even to a physician like U.S. Army Capt. D.J. Doyle, the list of diseases in Afghanistan is frightening: typhoid fever, dengue fever, polio, cholera, leishmaniasis, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
And then there's the dust.
``I go running every day. The first time I saw the dust in the air, I thought 'Oh my God, I'm going to get so sick,''' said Doyle, 38, of Whispering Pines, N.C., acting surgeon for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan. ``But it just hasn't happened.''
Nor have many of the thousands of U.S. and other coalition troops fighting in Afghanistan been sickened with any of the frightening diseases that this shattered country lists among its litany of woes.
The threat of disease and ailments hangs over any military force entering a foreign environment. In a country like Afghanistan, where sanitation and Western hygiene standards are virtually nonexistent and soldiers interact with the populace regularly, the prospect is even more unnerving.
``For a U.S.-trained physician and soldier, the idea of going to a place where something like hemorrhagic fever is endemic scares the hell out of me,'' Doyle said.
``For a preventative medicine doctor, Afghanistan is like being at the World Series,'' said Lt. Col. Ed Bolland, 41, of Fayetteville, N.C., who oversees efforts to prevent disease and contamination of coalition troops in Afghanistan. ``I would never see these things at home.''
Diseases like whooping cough and polio that have all but been eradicated in many Western countries regularly appear in Afghanistan. At least three people were diagnosed with cholera in Kabul, the country's capital, in July. An outbreak of the deadly Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever killed three people in eastern Afghanistan in June.
U.S. medical planners' fears of illness were based on past experience. In Vietnam, malaria sapped many troops' strength. Concerns were also stoked by the experience of the Soviet army during its war and occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
An estimated two-thirds of all Soviet troops who fought in Afghanistan were hospitalized with some disease or illness. Hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, dysentery and even plague were the primary diseases that afflicted the Soviets. At one point, every 10th Soviet casualty was due to a ``disease non-battle injury'' — essentially, any injury or illness suffered outside of combat, Bolland said.
``It's not unrealistic to say the Soviets lost the war here because of disease non-battle injuries,'' Doyle said.
For U.S. military troops, disease non-battle injury rates have run at about 1 percent since U.S operations began in Afghanistan last November. Most problems have been respiratory, which is attributed to the high altitudes and the dusty environment, Bolland said.
About 20 cases of malaria have also been reported, though these are mainly special forces soldiers operating outside of traditional military units, in more remote environments.
U.S. soldiers are routinely vaccinated against diseases like hepatitis A, typhoid and influenza and take anti-malarial pills during their tour of duty.
Because many diseases in Afghanistan are also water- or food-borne, efforts also focus on basic hygiene. Combat troops out in the field are given bottles of anti-bacterial hand lotion and warned to stay away from locally-grown produce.
``That's what we tell soldiers: Eat what the Army tells you to eat and drink what we give you. If you don't, it's at your own peril,'' Bolland said.
Even eating only Army-sanctioned food, however, won't always protect you. As many as 100 U.S. and coalition soldiers at the Kandahar base in southeastern Afghanistan came down with mild food poisoning after reportedly eating bad turkey stuffing for Thanksgiving.
The ``Bagram bug'' is the name for the mild cold many soldiers at Bagram seem to get, though medical officials say it doesn't appear to be anything specific to Bagram.
The dust, there isn't much anyone can do about. Gravel put down on some parts of Bagram's main road keeps pedestrians from kicking it up. But it's everywhere on the base, and out in the field, it's even worse.
``One of the doctors said: 'You just make peace with the dust and be done with it,'' said Lt. Col. Donna Hershey, of Elizabethtown, Penn., chief nurse for the 339th Combat Surgical Hospital.
``The bottom line is that war is not a healthy thing,'' Bolland said.
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?SLUG=AFGHAN-HEALTH
Een waarheid als een koe. :fplet:
Heavy water
Drinking water in Kosovo could end up being contaminated with radioactive uranium at levels in breach of safety limits, warns the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). A new study by an international team of scientists says the water should be monitored and the uranium cleaned up.
Over 30,000 shells containing nine tonnes of depleted uranium (DU) were fired by US A-10 aircraft at 112 sites in Kosovo during the conflict in 1999. The material is very dense and helps the shells penetrate armour.
Because of controversy over how this might endanger the health of local people, 11 of the sites have been examined for UNEP by 14 scientists from the US and Europe.
...
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns9999506
Afghanistan faces an environmental crisis
Bombing will also leave its mark beyond the obvious craters. Defence analysts say that while depleted uranium has been used less in Afghanistan than in the Kosovo conflict, conventional explosives will litter the country with pollutants. They contain toxic compounds such as cyclonite, a carcinogen, and rocket propellants contain perchlorates, which damage thyroid glands.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991733
DECEMBER 02, 02:34 ET
Preventing Disease Tough in Afghanistan
By MIKE ECKEL
Associated Press Writer
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — Even to a physician like U.S. Army Capt. D.J. Doyle, the list of diseases in Afghanistan is frightening: typhoid fever, dengue fever, polio, cholera, leishmaniasis, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
And then there's the dust.
``I go running every day. The first time I saw the dust in the air, I thought 'Oh my God, I'm going to get so sick,''' said Doyle, 38, of Whispering Pines, N.C., acting surgeon for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan. ``But it just hasn't happened.''
Nor have many of the thousands of U.S. and other coalition troops fighting in Afghanistan been sickened with any of the frightening diseases that this shattered country lists among its litany of woes.
The threat of disease and ailments hangs over any military force entering a foreign environment. In a country like Afghanistan, where sanitation and Western hygiene standards are virtually nonexistent and soldiers interact with the populace regularly, the prospect is even more unnerving.
``For a U.S.-trained physician and soldier, the idea of going to a place where something like hemorrhagic fever is endemic scares the hell out of me,'' Doyle said.
``For a preventative medicine doctor, Afghanistan is like being at the World Series,'' said Lt. Col. Ed Bolland, 41, of Fayetteville, N.C., who oversees efforts to prevent disease and contamination of coalition troops in Afghanistan. ``I would never see these things at home.''
Diseases like whooping cough and polio that have all but been eradicated in many Western countries regularly appear in Afghanistan. At least three people were diagnosed with cholera in Kabul, the country's capital, in July. An outbreak of the deadly Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever killed three people in eastern Afghanistan in June.
U.S. medical planners' fears of illness were based on past experience. In Vietnam, malaria sapped many troops' strength. Concerns were also stoked by the experience of the Soviet army during its war and occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
An estimated two-thirds of all Soviet troops who fought in Afghanistan were hospitalized with some disease or illness. Hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria, dysentery and even plague were the primary diseases that afflicted the Soviets. At one point, every 10th Soviet casualty was due to a ``disease non-battle injury'' — essentially, any injury or illness suffered outside of combat, Bolland said.
``It's not unrealistic to say the Soviets lost the war here because of disease non-battle injuries,'' Doyle said.
For U.S. military troops, disease non-battle injury rates have run at about 1 percent since U.S operations began in Afghanistan last November. Most problems have been respiratory, which is attributed to the high altitudes and the dusty environment, Bolland said.
About 20 cases of malaria have also been reported, though these are mainly special forces soldiers operating outside of traditional military units, in more remote environments.
U.S. soldiers are routinely vaccinated against diseases like hepatitis A, typhoid and influenza and take anti-malarial pills during their tour of duty.
Because many diseases in Afghanistan are also water- or food-borne, efforts also focus on basic hygiene. Combat troops out in the field are given bottles of anti-bacterial hand lotion and warned to stay away from locally-grown produce.
``That's what we tell soldiers: Eat what the Army tells you to eat and drink what we give you. If you don't, it's at your own peril,'' Bolland said.
Even eating only Army-sanctioned food, however, won't always protect you. As many as 100 U.S. and coalition soldiers at the Kandahar base in southeastern Afghanistan came down with mild food poisoning after reportedly eating bad turkey stuffing for Thanksgiving.
The ``Bagram bug'' is the name for the mild cold many soldiers at Bagram seem to get, though medical officials say it doesn't appear to be anything specific to Bagram.
The dust, there isn't much anyone can do about. Gravel put down on some parts of Bagram's main road keeps pedestrians from kicking it up. But it's everywhere on the base, and out in the field, it's even worse.
``One of the doctors said: 'You just make peace with the dust and be done with it,'' said Lt. Col. Donna Hershey, of Elizabethtown, Penn., chief nurse for the 339th Combat Surgical Hospital.
``The bottom line is that war is not a healthy thing,'' Bolland said.
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?SLUG=AFGHAN-HEALTH
Een waarheid als een koe. :fplet:
Heavy water
Drinking water in Kosovo could end up being contaminated with radioactive uranium at levels in breach of safety limits, warns the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). A new study by an international team of scientists says the water should be monitored and the uranium cleaned up.
Over 30,000 shells containing nine tonnes of depleted uranium (DU) were fired by US A-10 aircraft at 112 sites in Kosovo during the conflict in 1999. The material is very dense and helps the shells penetrate armour.
Because of controversy over how this might endanger the health of local people, 11 of the sites have been examined for UNEP by 14 scientists from the US and Europe.
...
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns9999506
Afghanistan faces an environmental crisis
Bombing will also leave its mark beyond the obvious craters. Defence analysts say that while depleted uranium has been used less in Afghanistan than in the Kosovo conflict, conventional explosives will litter the country with pollutants. They contain toxic compounds such as cyclonite, a carcinogen, and rocket propellants contain perchlorates, which damage thyroid glands.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991733