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Six U.S. soldiers have contracted malaria during Haiti mission
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, February 27, 2010
HEIDELBERG, Germany ? An 82nd Airborne Division soldier deployed to Haiti nearly died of malaria this month before being taken to a Fort Bragg, N.C., hospital, according to an Army doctor who recently spent two weeks in Haiti.
The soldier is one of six U.S. troops sent to Haiti last month with the 82nd Airborne Division who have been diagnosed so far with falciparum malaria, the strain of mosquito-borne parasite most common in Haiti and the most dangerous. If not treated rapidly with anti-malarial drugs, it can cause death from respiratory failure or swelling of the brain.
In December, a Navy petty officer assigned to Liberia died from the disease at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, eight days after first showing symptoms.
The Fort Bragg soldier was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 19, said Shannon Lynch, a spokeswoman at Womack Army Medical Center. She declined to provide further information.
But a doctor identified him as a sergeant with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and assigned to security at the Port-au-Prince airport.
At one time, the sergeant was ?extremely ill and on life support? in the hospital?s intensive care unit, said the doctor, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to provide the information.
But officials say the sergeant now is expected to make a full recovery. Four others were being treated in their units in Haiti, officials said.
The soldiers had all been given doxycycline, an antibiotic the Army uses as a malarial preventive, 48 hours before their deployment, as recommended, said Maj. Brian Fickel, an 82nd Airborne Division spokesman at Fort Bragg.
They were all given a 90-day supply.
The pills are supposed to be taken daily, according to federal health guidelines.
But military studies have shown a significant portion of troops don?t take theirs every day. ?Non-compliance? with antibiotic treatment is high in the general population as well, in all age groups, studies have shown, and especially high in those under 30.
Even if taken as directed, the pills are not 100 percent effective. That?s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ? and military protocols ? call for a layered approach, reducing risk several ways.
Troops going into malarial regions are supposed to have their uniforms treated with Permethrin, an insecticide that?s sprayed on the uniforms, which then must air-dry.
They are supposed to apply another repellent, DEET, to exposed skin several times a day, and to use chemically treated bed nets.
But those measures also are not always taken, or are done sporadically, studies have shown.
Fickel said he didn?t know whether units had treated uniforms.
?They should have,? Fickel said.
He did not know if Fort Bragg shipped ?containers and containers? of bed nets to Haiti for troops? use. Initially, some 10,000 U.S. troops were sent to Haiti for the relief efforts.
?Whether they got their nets, I can?t speak to that,? he said.
But the doctor said he was told the sergeant?s unit never received their bed nets, and he saw little use of either insecticide.
Col. Billy Buckner, spokesman for the U.S. command in Haiti, said the malaria cases were being investigated.
?The circumstances related to [these] diagnosed cases of malaria will be investigated to ensure all protective measures are being applied to mitigate the threat to other US military members,? Buckner wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.
WPTV, a West Palm Beach, Fla., news station reported that a warrant officer initially thought to have malaria actually had contracted leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by exposure to the urine of infected animals, often in contaminated water. The warrant officer was being treated in a Tampa hospital. Leptospirosis is also prevented by taking doxycycline.
Buckner?s e-mail said malaria diagnoses were being confirmed by a test consisting of a blood smear on a microscope slide stained to show parasites, if they exist, inside red blood cells.
?Although this test is easily done, correct results are dependent on how well the slides are prepared and examined,? Buckner?s e-mail said. ?JTF Haiti has well qualified pathologists and lab staff deployed to support diagnoses.?
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, February 27, 2010
HEIDELBERG, Germany ? An 82nd Airborne Division soldier deployed to Haiti nearly died of malaria this month before being taken to a Fort Bragg, N.C., hospital, according to an Army doctor who recently spent two weeks in Haiti.
The soldier is one of six U.S. troops sent to Haiti last month with the 82nd Airborne Division who have been diagnosed so far with falciparum malaria, the strain of mosquito-borne parasite most common in Haiti and the most dangerous. If not treated rapidly with anti-malarial drugs, it can cause death from respiratory failure or swelling of the brain.
In December, a Navy petty officer assigned to Liberia died from the disease at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, eight days after first showing symptoms.
The Fort Bragg soldier was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 19, said Shannon Lynch, a spokeswoman at Womack Army Medical Center. She declined to provide further information.
But a doctor identified him as a sergeant with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and assigned to security at the Port-au-Prince airport.
At one time, the sergeant was ?extremely ill and on life support? in the hospital?s intensive care unit, said the doctor, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to provide the information.
But officials say the sergeant now is expected to make a full recovery. Four others were being treated in their units in Haiti, officials said.
The soldiers had all been given doxycycline, an antibiotic the Army uses as a malarial preventive, 48 hours before their deployment, as recommended, said Maj. Brian Fickel, an 82nd Airborne Division spokesman at Fort Bragg.
They were all given a 90-day supply.
The pills are supposed to be taken daily, according to federal health guidelines.
But military studies have shown a significant portion of troops don?t take theirs every day. ?Non-compliance? with antibiotic treatment is high in the general population as well, in all age groups, studies have shown, and especially high in those under 30.
Even if taken as directed, the pills are not 100 percent effective. That?s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ? and military protocols ? call for a layered approach, reducing risk several ways.
Troops going into malarial regions are supposed to have their uniforms treated with Permethrin, an insecticide that?s sprayed on the uniforms, which then must air-dry.
They are supposed to apply another repellent, DEET, to exposed skin several times a day, and to use chemically treated bed nets.
But those measures also are not always taken, or are done sporadically, studies have shown.
Fickel said he didn?t know whether units had treated uniforms.
?They should have,? Fickel said.
He did not know if Fort Bragg shipped ?containers and containers? of bed nets to Haiti for troops? use. Initially, some 10,000 U.S. troops were sent to Haiti for the relief efforts.
?Whether they got their nets, I can?t speak to that,? he said.
But the doctor said he was told the sergeant?s unit never received their bed nets, and he saw little use of either insecticide.
Col. Billy Buckner, spokesman for the U.S. command in Haiti, said the malaria cases were being investigated.
?The circumstances related to [these] diagnosed cases of malaria will be investigated to ensure all protective measures are being applied to mitigate the threat to other US military members,? Buckner wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.
WPTV, a West Palm Beach, Fla., news station reported that a warrant officer initially thought to have malaria actually had contracted leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by exposure to the urine of infected animals, often in contaminated water. The warrant officer was being treated in a Tampa hospital. Leptospirosis is also prevented by taking doxycycline.
Buckner?s e-mail said malaria diagnoses were being confirmed by a test consisting of a blood smear on a microscope slide stained to show parasites, if they exist, inside red blood cells.
?Although this test is easily done, correct results are dependent on how well the slides are prepared and examined,? Buckner?s e-mail said. ?JTF Haiti has well qualified pathologists and lab staff deployed to support diagnoses.?
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