Re: Unknown illness kills at least 14 Syrian soldiers, thousands hospitalized
And we get a ProMED post.
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,83851
Archive Number 20100727.2521
Published Date 27-JUL-2010
Subject PRO/EDR> Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2010 (12): West Asia RFI
CHOLERA, DIARRHEA AND DYSENTERY UPDATE 2010 (12): WEST ASIA, REQUEST
FOR INFORMATION
********************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
In this update:
[1] Diarrhea, fatal, troops - Syria: RFI
[2], [3] Diarrhea, fatal - Yemen: RFI
******
[1] Diarrhea, fatal, troops - Syria: RFI
Date: Tue 13 Jul 2010
Source: World Tribune [edited]
<http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_syria0648_07_13.asp>
Syria's military was said to be fighting a mysterious epidemic that
has killed several soldiers and delayed programs. The Syrian
opposition asserted that an unknown disease has been raging through
Syrian Army barracks, particularly in the north. The opposition said
the suspected epidemic has killed several people and delayed a
recruitment program.
"The enrollment of new conscripts has been postponed to the beginning
of next month [August 2010] rather than this month," the opposition
West Kurdistan Society said.
In a statement on 12 Jul 2010, the society, which reports on the
Kurdish minority in Syria, said an undetermined number of soldiers
have died of the "unknown disease." On 10 Jul 2010, the statement
said, 10 Army recruits were rushed to a hospital in the northeastern
city of Qamishli and were reported in critical condition.
The Syrian military has not acknowledged the epidemic. But officials
have confirmed that Syrian hospitals were treating many people for
exhaustion and other illnesses related to the current heat wave in the
Levant.
This marked the 2nd report by the Syrian opposition of an epidemic
that has struck the Army. The 1st report said many Syrian soldiers
were hospitalized by what appeared to be dysentery. The disease was
attributed to a lack of water, food, and poor sanitary conditions in
Syrian military training camps.
"There has been a lot of speculation about the reasons for this
disease, some blaming the vaccines given to new soldiers, which may
have been corrupted," the West Kurdistan Society said. "Others
attributed the cause to the state of the weather as there is a wave of
intense heat and high temperatures. Some attribute it to a bacterial
contamination in water and food in the barracks, and so far this is
limited to members of the military, not Syrian civilians."
The Kurdish group said Syrian hospitals were overflowing with soldiers
and civil servants believed infected by the epidemic. The report said
Syrian physicians have failed to reach a diagnosis and were hampered
by poor equipment and training. So far, at least 14 soldiers, all of
them new recruits, were said to have died in the epidemic. The Kurdish
group cited deaths in military hospitals in Harasta and Teshrin.
--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The etiology or etiologies of the gastrointestinal disease in the
soldiers is not clear. - Mod.LL]
[Qamishli can be located via the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map
of Syria at
<http://healthmap.org/r/01K5>. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]
******
[2] Diarrhea, fatal - Yemen: RFI
Date: Thu 1 Jul 2010 [accessed Fri 9 Jul 2010]
Source: Al-Sahwah, Sanaa [edited]
<http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/arabic/subjects/5/2010/7/1/2067.htm>
A total of 4 persons including a child died in a diarrhea epidemic
last week [week of 21 Jun 2010] in Lahij governorate and 127 others
are affected by this outbreak. Meanwhile, 7 children died of the
epidemic in Hajjah governorate during the last week and 200 people
were inflicted with the epidemic, medical sources in Hajjah told
Sahwah Net.
--
Communicated by
Michelle Sellors
Specialist Nurse Travel Health
MASTA Ltd
<michelle.sellors@masta.org>
[The etiology or etiologies of the gastrointestinal disease in the
Yemeni population is not clear. - Mod.LL]
[The Health/ProMED-mail interactive map of Yemen is available at
<http://healthmap.org/r/01K6>. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]
******
[3] Diarrhea, fatal - Yemen: RFI
Date: Tue 6 Jul 2010
Source: Mareb Press [in Arabic, trans. Corr.SB, edited]
<http://marebpress.net/news_details.php?sid=26112&lng=arabic>
The increased spread of a diarrheal epidemic has caused speculation in
the province of the Hajj Directorate, where medical sources said that
the rural hospital is receiving more than 15 cases a day while sources
for Marib Press said that the cases showed symptoms of diarrhea, acute
vomiting and abdominal pain, and were treated with fluids and
intravenous fluids.
According to Dr Ayman Mohsen Alhabayli, the number (of patients) with
the disease has reached 183 and the deaths so far are 4. Marib Press
stated that the 4 cases died in the home or during the ambulance
transport to hospital, but there have been no deaths in the hospital.
Doctors at Ibn Khaldoun Haj [said] that symptoms of the epidemic are
like cholera. The government reported that the results of laboratory
tests sent to the Sana'a central laboratory ruled out (cholera). The
hospital director, Khaled Ahmed Awad Sobeihi, said that the last case
(in Marib) was 30 years ago.
The correspondent for Marib Press states that the epidemic resulted
from bacterial contamination of water. He pointed out that despite the
closure of wells and workshops (and the use of) chlorine in water
wells, the epidemic is still on the rise.
[Byline: Anis Mansour]
