Source:
ReutersIraqi fire left U.S. soldiers with lung disease21 May 2008 18:27:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO, May 21 (Reuters) - Several U.S. soldiers exposed
to a 2003 sulfur plant fire in Iraq have been diagnosed with
a lung disorder that constricts small airways of the lung,
making them unfit for duty, U.S. researchers said on
Wednesday.
Doctors at Vanderbilt University in Nashville identified
the illness after evaluating 56 soldiers stationed in Fort
Campbell, Kentucky, who suffered from unexplained
shortness of breath after exercise.
-snip-"We did open lung biopsies," said Dr. Robert Miller of
Vanderbilt, who noted that surgery is a rather extreme
diagnostic approach in such cases. "I just couldn't explain
their abnormal pulmonary function."
-snip-Most of those diagnosed with bronchiolitis had breathed in
sulfur dioxide released by the blaze at the plant near Mosul.
The fire burned for almost a month and released more of the
gas than most volcanic eruptions.
-snip-Read more:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21418510.htm