Skin lesions afflict troops in Iraq (They are being eaten alive)

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20031205/ts_usatoday/12058219&cid=676&ncid=1473

Nearly 150 U.S. soldiers in Iraq (news - web sites) have been diagnosed with a parasitic skin disease, and hundreds more could unknowingly be infected, doctors will report Friday.


Doctors fear that soldiers returning from the front might consult doctors in the USA who have never seen the disease. Complicating matters: It has an incubation period of six months, on average, so a person infected in September may not show symptoms until March. Also, the best drug to treat it is not licensed in the USA.


Leishmaniasis (LEASH-man-EYE-uh-sis), which soldiers call the "Baghdad Boil," is carried by biting sand flies and doesn't spread from person to person. It causes skin lesions that if untreated may take months, even years, to heal and can be disfiguring, doctors say.


So far, 148 soldiers have confirmed cases, but hundreds more are expected, says entomologist and Army Lt. Col. Russell Coleman, who spent 10 months in Iraq with the 520th Theater Army Medical Laboratory. Coleman was to report the outbreak Friday to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, which is meeting in Philadelphia.


Sand flies are active during warm weather, and soon after U.S. troops arrived in Iraq in late March, "we started seeing soldiers basically eaten alive," Coleman says...

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[Sven77]

1. its probably radiation poisoning

its probably radiation poisoning, they use depleted uranium in tank shells. the whole city is probably radioactive.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. 'Depleted Uranium Ammo' will take a toll again!

EXTREME BIRTH DEFORMITIES

I have recently received large numbers of photographs of horrendous birth deformities that are being experienced in Iraq. I have not, quite frankly, ever seen anything like them. I urge you to copy this page / these pictures and circulate them as widely as possible.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/extremedeformities.html

Look at these photos (if you dare) and then tell me who used WMD on the people of Iraq! The bush KKKlan claim to be so big on the rights of the unborn, another lie?

[DulceDecorum]

3. Think HARD about this line

"Doctors fear that soldiers returning from the front might consult doctors in the USA who have never seen the disease. "

Doctors are concerned that soldiers coming home may be harboring the parasite without knowing it. Leishmaniasis is rare in the USA, and American doctors may not recognize it, Wortmann says.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20031205/ts_usatoday/12058219&cid=676&ncid=1473

In other words, the "Iraqi" doctors are afraid
of what the stateside doctors are going to do
to the guys when they come home with this stuff.

Think about that for a minute.

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

4. There's those durned weapons of mass destruction!

Will the Weekly Standard again be the only news outlet with the courage to cover this story? Case closed!

[Military Brat]

5. Get ready for this -- they have excellent care for that in France!

A friend of mine was diagnosed with the same condition, which he acquired on one of his travels to Mexico, I believe. Fortunately, he lives in France and they were able to treat him, very competently, and of course at no charge.

BTW, this is an extremely unpleasant condition at best, and at worst it feels like torture. It can also be quite disfiguring. Thanks, bush, for nothing.

[Barrett808]

6. Sci-fi horror idea: sand fleas, covered in DU dust...

...injecting DU under the soldiers' skin when they bite...