Leishmaniasis

[tara]

March 08, 2004, 8:42 a.m.?
Fighting Deadly Desert Bugs
?Why can’t the U.S. military keep ahead of the Baghdad Boil?

EASTERN TURKEY 2004 — With nearly 600 confirmed cases of "Baghdad Boil" among U.S. troops, medical experts are wondering what can done to contain the disease. Military forecasts only a few weeks ago said there wouldn't be more than 400 cases by the end of April. So what is going wrong? The military cannot claim that it is a new problem; after all, during Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait in 1991 there were 34 cases of Baghdad Boil, more correctly known as Leishmaniasis.

Spread of disease tied to US combat deploymentsStateside doctors are left grappling By John Donnelly, Globe Staff |
May 7, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...t_deployments/

WASHINGTON -- Leishmaniasis is A PARASITIC DISEASE rarely seen in United States but common in the Middle East has infected an estimated 2,500 US troops in the last four years because of massive deployments to remote combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, military officials said.

Leishmaniasis, which is transmitted through the bite of the tiny sand fly, USUALLY SHOWS UP IN THE FORM OF REDDISH SKIN ULCERS ON THE FACE, HANDS, ARMS, OR LEGS., But a more virulent form of the disease also attacks organs and can be fatal if left untreated.

In some US hospitals in Iraq, the disease has become so commonplace that troops call it the "BAGHDAD BOIL."

But in the United States, the appearance of Leishmaniasis among civilian contractors who went to Iraq or among tourists who were infected in other parts of the world has caused great fear because family doctors have had difficulty figuring out the cause.

The spread of leishmaniasis (pronounced LEASH-ma-NYE-a-sis) is part of a trend of emerging infectious diseases in the United States in recent years as a result of military deployments, as well as the pursuit of adventure travel and far-flung business opportunities in the developing world, health officials say.

Among those diseases appearing more frequently in the United States are three [PARASITES!!] transmitted by mosquitoes: malaria, which was contracted by 122 troops last year in Afghanistan; dengue fever; and chikungunya fever.

[tara]

http://knoxville.wate.com/sound_off/...pic,132.0.html

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. - Some members of the Army Reserve's 296th Transportation Co. apparently are infected with a parasitic disease contracted in Iraq, the company commander says.

"Many of my soldiers, including myself, have it," Capt. Howard Taylor told The Daily Leader newspaper of Brookhaven. "The signs are just beginning to show now. I've got some soldiers with bites all over their bodies."

A spokesman at the 296th headquarters said Tuesday the unit had about 135 soldiers who served in Iraq.

Leishmaniasis, known as "Baghdad Boil" to U.S. soldiers, is a PARASITIC skin disease transmitted by bites from sand flies in Iraq. It can leave disfiguring lesions on the skin for months.


The disease is more common in rural than urban areas of Iraq, but is found on the outskirts of some cities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Vaccines and drugs for preventing infections are not currently available.

Further complicating the situation for the 296th, Taylor said, was that few civilian doctors are familiar with the disease, and the only hospital he knew to be treating it is Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Maj. Trey Cate, a spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division, told the Associated Press last week that the division sent 20 soldiers to Walter Reed for treatment and testing.

"We have evacuated them ... (so they) can be treated by the experts and studied in ways that are impossible in the field," he said.

Taylor said he hopes he can begin sending soldiers to Walter Reed soon for treatment. He said there is talk and rumors that the 296th may be redeployed to Iraq in March for up to two years.

, November 25, 2003 by the New York Daily News
Baghdad Boil Festers as New Enemy of G.I.s
by Juan Gonzalez

Iraqis call it the Baghdad Boil or Black Fever - and it's attacking American soldiers.
In its most virulent form, the RARE PARASITIC DISEASE, known officially as Visceral Leishmaniasis, or VL, infects the kidneys and spleen and is usually fatal if left untreated.
A milder form leaves ugly lesions on the skin that can lead to permanent scarring.
Last month the Pentagon announced that 22 U.S. soldiers from the Middle East have come down with the milder form of the disease during the past year - 18 of them in Iraq, mostly around Baghdad and Nassiriya in the south. The others got sick in Afghanistan or Kuwait.
But the number infected could be much higher than military brass is admitting, two Army medics recently returned from Iraq told the Daily News last week.

"A lot of people are being medivacked for Leishmaniasis," said one medic, an Army sergeant back in the states on leave who asked not to be identified. "In briefing sessions several months ago, we were told the number of in-country cases was almost 800," he said.
And the most dangerous time for catching the disease is during the month of November.

According to the second medic, who also is a sergeant, some commanders are so strapped for manpower, they've started to resist shipping out all but the sickest soldiers.

Pentagon officials, after revealing the first cases of the disease among U.S. troops, have banned donations of blood by G.I.s from the Middle East for at least a year after soldiers return home. "The issue with those who are exposed is that there is an incubation period before any symptoms appear," Lt. Col. Ruth Sylvester of the Armed Services Blood Program said recently.

[ladycolorado]

there are some similarites, however i will give a word of waring: some time franky did a post on a lishmanias med being used to see if it worked on morgellons patients. ALL 15 DIED. there must be something different in our makeup that made this happen versus people who are healthy. just posting this because i would not want it to happen to any of us, (LC).