Council Member
Posts: 2,299 
July 17th, 2008, 11:11 AM
[quote=quandary121;968696]Biological warfare
against US troops
Courtesy of Halliburton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXjCtkymRQ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Quandary;
that is quite a powerful video about the corruptness of Haliburton!! Now they should prove that a multitude of GIs are getting sick. Has that happened yet, I wonder?
The luxury and waste is phenomenal. In the midth of so much fraud and corruption do you think the Americans actually pay for all the oil they pipe out of there? How much oil gets siphoned off and sold under the table? I don't think it is just Haliburton who ladles into their pockets, others would do the same. It is an old custom to plunder the defeated country. It's easy, nobody checks.
[quote=quandary121;968696]Biological warfare
against US troops
Courtesy of Halliburton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXjCtkymRQ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Quandary;
that is quite a powerful video about the corruptness of Haliburton!! Now they should prove that a multitude of GIs are getting sick. Has that happened yet, I wonder?
The luxury and waste is phenomenal. In the midth of so much fraud and corruption do you think the Americans actually pay for all the oil they pipe out of there? How much oil gets siphoned off and sold under the table? I don't think it is just Haliburton who ladles into their pockets, others would do the same. It is an old custom to plunder the defeated country. It's easy, nobody checks.
Time Out
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Videos: 3
Location: lincolnshire
Videos: 3
Location: lincolnshire
July 17th, 2008, 12:33 PM
[quote=dancing-loon;968728]
No soldier from a New York Army National Guard unit that returned from Iraq last month has so far tested positive for depleted uranium, Pentagon doctors claimed this week.
"None of the samples processed have measurable amounts of DU," said Lt. Col. Mark Melanson of the Army's Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine in Aberdeen, Md.
The test results are preliminary, Melanson said, and he is still waiting for complete written reports on each soldier whose tests have been analyzed. In total, 56 soldiers from the442nd Military Police Company submitted urine samples last month at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington or Fort Dix, N.J., and the bulk have not yet been analyzed, Melanson said.
Even if some soldiers do show traces in their bodies, Melanson said, "There are safe levels of depleted uranium intake. An individual could [safely] breathe in up to a gram per year every year for 50 years."
"That's total nonsense," said Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a colonel in the Army Reserves and a former head of nuclear medicine at a veterans hospital.
Durakovic and a team of scientists tested nine soldiers from the 442nd at the request of the Daily News and concluded that four of them were contaminated with depleted uranium.
The four, Durakovic said, had "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded American shells manufactured from depleted uranium.
The first batch of soldiers tested by the Army includes the nine Durakovic screened.
"Their equipment is not able to accurately measure certain uranium isotopes," said Durakovic, who has reviewed the Army's preliminary lab reports.
Durakovic was the first Army doctor to discover that a group of soldiers from the 1991 Persian Gulf War had been contaminated with depleted uranium. He has since become an expert on depleted uranium and an opponent of its use in warfare.
Melanson is using a "faulty approach" that assumes radiation is spread out evenly over the whole body, Durakovic said.
"Depleted uranium dust that is inhaled gets transferred from the lungs to the regional lymph nodes, where they can bombard a small number of cells in their immediate vicinity with intense alpha radiation," Durakovic said.
Melanson's claim of a depleted uranium safety level also was questioned by Richard Leggett, a senior researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.
"There's a lot of uncertainty in where the hazard really starts with depleted uranium," Leggett said. "Nobody knows for sure."
Since depleted uranium is an extremely heavy metal, its "chemical toxicity" is an even bigger problem than its radioactivity, Leggett said.
"All I know is I'm still sick and the Army can't tell me why," said Staff Sgt. Ray Ramos, one of the soldiers caught in the crossfire of the experts.
Ramos and others have suffered from chronic fatigue, migraine headaches, urinary problems, severe joint pain and other unexplained ailments since last summer when they were stationed in the Iraqi town of Samawah.
"The Army says I'm negative and Dr. Durakovic says I'm positive, so now I want a third, independent test done," Ramos said.
The soldiers say the Army agreed to test them only after The News started reporting on their plight.
In a memo last week that specifically cited the publicity around the 442nd, Lt. Gen. James Peake of Army medical headquarters reminded all medical commanders of the existing depleted uranium monitoring policy.
"If ... a patient expresses a valid concern about potential exposure to DU and requests a urine bioassay, then one should be ordered," Peake said.
"It's been the policy for quite some time, but some people didn't take it seriously enough," admitted Col. Dallas Hack, head of preventive medicine at Walter Reed.
Still, the Pentagon's existing policy is not nearly as careful about depleted uranium as is Britain's. Every British soldier dispatched to Iraq is handed a wallet-sized card by the Defense Ministry that states:
"You have been deployed to a theater where depleted uranium munitions have been used. DU is a weakly radioactive heavy metal, which has the potential to cause ill health. You may have been exposed to dust containing DU during your deployment." The back of the card advises each soldier: "You are eligible for a urine test to measure for uranium. ... Consult your unit medical officer on return to your home base."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0507-13.htm
HI dancing -loon they are putting a lot of emphasis on depleted uranium ,and not doing the tests on water born diseases
[quote=dancing-loon;968728]
Quoting quandary121
Biological warfare
against US troops
Courtesy of Halliburton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXjCtkymRQ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Quandary;
that is quite a powerful video about the corruptness of Haliburton!! Now they should prove that a multitude of GIs are getting sick. Has that happened yet, I wonder?
The luxury and waste is phenomenal. In the midth of so much fraud and corruption do you think the Americans actually pay for all the oil they pipe out of there? How much oil gets siphoned off and sold under the table? I don't think it is just Haliburton who ladles into their pockets, others would do the same. It is an old custom to plunder the defeated country. It's easy, nobody checks.
against US troops
Courtesy of Halliburton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXjCtkymRQ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Quandary;
that is quite a powerful video about the corruptness of Haliburton!! Now they should prove that a multitude of GIs are getting sick. Has that happened yet, I wonder?
The luxury and waste is phenomenal. In the midth of so much fraud and corruption do you think the Americans actually pay for all the oil they pipe out of there? How much oil gets siphoned off and sold under the table? I don't think it is just Haliburton who ladles into their pockets, others would do the same. It is an old custom to plunder the defeated country. It's easy, nobody checks.
Published on Thursday, May 6, 2004 by the New York Daily News
Murky Facts on Sick G.I.s
by Juan Gonzalez
Murky Facts on Sick G.I.s
by Juan Gonzalez
No soldier from a New York Army National Guard unit that returned from Iraq last month has so far tested positive for depleted uranium, Pentagon doctors claimed this week.
"None of the samples processed have measurable amounts of DU," said Lt. Col. Mark Melanson of the Army's Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine in Aberdeen, Md.
The test results are preliminary, Melanson said, and he is still waiting for complete written reports on each soldier whose tests have been analyzed. In total, 56 soldiers from the442nd Military Police Company submitted urine samples last month at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington or Fort Dix, N.J., and the bulk have not yet been analyzed, Melanson said.
Even if some soldiers do show traces in their bodies, Melanson said, "There are safe levels of depleted uranium intake. An individual could [safely] breathe in up to a gram per year every year for 50 years."
"That's total nonsense," said Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a colonel in the Army Reserves and a former head of nuclear medicine at a veterans hospital.
Durakovic and a team of scientists tested nine soldiers from the 442nd at the request of the Daily News and concluded that four of them were contaminated with depleted uranium.
The four, Durakovic said, had "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded American shells manufactured from depleted uranium.
The first batch of soldiers tested by the Army includes the nine Durakovic screened.
"Their equipment is not able to accurately measure certain uranium isotopes," said Durakovic, who has reviewed the Army's preliminary lab reports.
Durakovic was the first Army doctor to discover that a group of soldiers from the 1991 Persian Gulf War had been contaminated with depleted uranium. He has since become an expert on depleted uranium and an opponent of its use in warfare.
Melanson is using a "faulty approach" that assumes radiation is spread out evenly over the whole body, Durakovic said.
"Depleted uranium dust that is inhaled gets transferred from the lungs to the regional lymph nodes, where they can bombard a small number of cells in their immediate vicinity with intense alpha radiation," Durakovic said.
Melanson's claim of a depleted uranium safety level also was questioned by Richard Leggett, a senior researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.
"There's a lot of uncertainty in where the hazard really starts with depleted uranium," Leggett said. "Nobody knows for sure."
Since depleted uranium is an extremely heavy metal, its "chemical toxicity" is an even bigger problem than its radioactivity, Leggett said.
"All I know is I'm still sick and the Army can't tell me why," said Staff Sgt. Ray Ramos, one of the soldiers caught in the crossfire of the experts.
Ramos and others have suffered from chronic fatigue, migraine headaches, urinary problems, severe joint pain and other unexplained ailments since last summer when they were stationed in the Iraqi town of Samawah.
"The Army says I'm negative and Dr. Durakovic says I'm positive, so now I want a third, independent test done," Ramos said.
The soldiers say the Army agreed to test them only after The News started reporting on their plight.
In a memo last week that specifically cited the publicity around the 442nd, Lt. Gen. James Peake of Army medical headquarters reminded all medical commanders of the existing depleted uranium monitoring policy.
"If ... a patient expresses a valid concern about potential exposure to DU and requests a urine bioassay, then one should be ordered," Peake said.
"It's been the policy for quite some time, but some people didn't take it seriously enough," admitted Col. Dallas Hack, head of preventive medicine at Walter Reed.
Still, the Pentagon's existing policy is not nearly as careful about depleted uranium as is Britain's. Every British soldier dispatched to Iraq is handed a wallet-sized card by the Defense Ministry that states:
"You have been deployed to a theater where depleted uranium munitions have been used. DU is a weakly radioactive heavy metal, which has the potential to cause ill health. You may have been exposed to dust containing DU during your deployment." The back of the card advises each soldier: "You are eligible for a urine test to measure for uranium. ... Consult your unit medical officer on return to your home base."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0507-13.htm
HI dancing -loon they are putting a lot of emphasis on depleted uranium ,and not doing the tests on water born diseases
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Location: lincolnshire
July 17th, 2008, 12:47 PM
Vets group stands tall for sick GIs
An Army general said Wednesday that a "Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade" would come soon to Fort Carson.
By Jim Spencer
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 05/11/2007 02:15:54 AM MDT
An Army general said Wednesday that a "Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade" would come soon to Fort Carson. It will help soldiers with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries.
As Brig. Gen. Michael Tucker spoke at Colorado's Mountain Post, no one from Veterans for America stood beside him.
They should have. VFA played as big a role in Tucker's announcement as any of Fort Carson's brass.
Veterans for America, a group run by ex-military personnel, has forced the Army's hand across the country by exposing bad treatment of soldiers who return from war with psychological wounds.
"What we do, plus the debacle of Walter Reed, has made them do things," said VFA's director of veterans affairs, Steve Robinson.
Before whistle-blowers attracted media attention, sick soldiers were being ignored or even forced from the military without the support they needed.
"We use media as a last resort," said Robinson, "when we can't get the attention of people who can make changes."
Fort Carson conveniently announced formation of the Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade the week before nine senators send staff members to Carson. The senatorial staffers will investigate claims of inadequate health treatment of soldiers. Guess who raised the charges?
That's right - Veterans for America.
Robinson said he met in Washington, D.C., on Monday with Tucker, the deputy commanding general of Walter Reed Medical Center and the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command.
"I gave him 10 cases of soldiers who had not gotten the correct treatment," Robinson said. By Thursday, nine of those 10 soldiers had told Robinson that the general had interviewed them.
Yet to hear Tucker talk at Fort Carson, you would not know that VFA played any role in his trip to Colorado.
Instead, Tucker spoke of Fort Carson as "a great example of what right looks like." In fact, Robinson and other advocates say, Fort Carson has made positive changes in health care for soldiers. The post does offer care models for other military bases.
But too often, it had to be embarrassed into action.
"Leaders at the unit level still don't understand how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury," said Robinson. "Without help, people with PTSD turn to drinking and drugs. People with traumatic brain injury have discipline and anger issues. And yet they still say that PTSD and brain injury are not an excuse for bad behavior."
Veterans for America's latest charge is that the Army is forcing out some soldiers with war-related post-traumatic stress by claiming they have pre-existing personality disorders.
It is just one more thing in a years-long pattern. "Without (Veterans for America), more people would have killed themselves," said an ex-Special Forces soldier who spent months in "medical hold" at Fort Carson in 2004 awaiting treatment.
The man didn't want his name published. He feared the military would try to take away his disability benefits.
Problems treating post-traumatic stress or brain injury "were not going to go away without pressure and oversight" from outside the military, the ex-soldier said. "When I was (at Fort Carson), they just wanted to get soldiers with problems out of the service without giving them adequate care. In my case, if I didn't have a medical background, I wouldn't have gotten the treatment I needed."
That's a searing indictment. Almost as bad was a Fort Carson spokesman's reaction to recent Veterans for America complaints. "They've said it a thousand times, and we've responded a thousand times, and we're not going to get into it today," the spokesman said.
Veterans for America has surely been a pain in the military's butt, but if the Walter Reed scandal and the establishment of a Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade prove anything, it is this: Without groups like Veterans for America, this country's war casualties would be victims of tunnel vision as deadly as friendly fire.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5867431
They could uses this as a defence saying it is due to soldiers with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries but nothing will be done to help and if there not looking for water type disease they will not find anything ,if anything is found they will blame it on the stress of war or post-traumatic stress ...
Vets group stands tall for sick GIs
An Army general said Wednesday that a "Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade" would come soon to Fort Carson.
By Jim Spencer
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 05/11/2007 02:15:54 AM MDT
An Army general said Wednesday that a "Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade" would come soon to Fort Carson. It will help soldiers with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries.
As Brig. Gen. Michael Tucker spoke at Colorado's Mountain Post, no one from Veterans for America stood beside him.
They should have. VFA played as big a role in Tucker's announcement as any of Fort Carson's brass.
Veterans for America, a group run by ex-military personnel, has forced the Army's hand across the country by exposing bad treatment of soldiers who return from war with psychological wounds.
"What we do, plus the debacle of Walter Reed, has made them do things," said VFA's director of veterans affairs, Steve Robinson.
Before whistle-blowers attracted media attention, sick soldiers were being ignored or even forced from the military without the support they needed.
"We use media as a last resort," said Robinson, "when we can't get the attention of people who can make changes."
Fort Carson conveniently announced formation of the Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade the week before nine senators send staff members to Carson. The senatorial staffers will investigate claims of inadequate health treatment of soldiers. Guess who raised the charges?
That's right - Veterans for America.
Robinson said he met in Washington, D.C., on Monday with Tucker, the deputy commanding general of Walter Reed Medical Center and the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command.
"I gave him 10 cases of soldiers who had not gotten the correct treatment," Robinson said. By Thursday, nine of those 10 soldiers had told Robinson that the general had interviewed them.
Yet to hear Tucker talk at Fort Carson, you would not know that VFA played any role in his trip to Colorado.
Instead, Tucker spoke of Fort Carson as "a great example of what right looks like." In fact, Robinson and other advocates say, Fort Carson has made positive changes in health care for soldiers. The post does offer care models for other military bases.
But too often, it had to be embarrassed into action.
"Leaders at the unit level still don't understand how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury," said Robinson. "Without help, people with PTSD turn to drinking and drugs. People with traumatic brain injury have discipline and anger issues. And yet they still say that PTSD and brain injury are not an excuse for bad behavior."
Veterans for America's latest charge is that the Army is forcing out some soldiers with war-related post-traumatic stress by claiming they have pre-existing personality disorders.
It is just one more thing in a years-long pattern. "Without (Veterans for America), more people would have killed themselves," said an ex-Special Forces soldier who spent months in "medical hold" at Fort Carson in 2004 awaiting treatment.
The man didn't want his name published. He feared the military would try to take away his disability benefits.
Problems treating post-traumatic stress or brain injury "were not going to go away without pressure and oversight" from outside the military, the ex-soldier said. "When I was (at Fort Carson), they just wanted to get soldiers with problems out of the service without giving them adequate care. In my case, if I didn't have a medical background, I wouldn't have gotten the treatment I needed."
That's a searing indictment. Almost as bad was a Fort Carson spokesman's reaction to recent Veterans for America complaints. "They've said it a thousand times, and we've responded a thousand times, and we're not going to get into it today," the spokesman said.
Veterans for America has surely been a pain in the military's butt, but if the Walter Reed scandal and the establishment of a Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade prove anything, it is this: Without groups like Veterans for America, this country's war casualties would be victims of tunnel vision as deadly as friendly fire.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5867431
They could uses this as a defence saying it is due to soldiers with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries but nothing will be done to help and if there not looking for water type disease they will not find anything ,if anything is found they will blame it on the stress of war or post-traumatic stress ...
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July 17th, 2008, 12:49 PM
The Invisible Enemy
The Pentagon created the perfect machine for saving the lives of soldiers wounded in Iraq. But then GIs started getting sick. The culprit: a drug-resistant supergerm infecting the military’s evacuation chain.
The Invisible Enemy
The Pentagon created the perfect machine for saving the lives of soldiers wounded in Iraq. But then GIs started getting sick. The culprit: a drug-resistant supergerm infecting the military’s evacuation chain.
Quote:
But he still had mysterious symptoms that he couldn't shake, like headaches, rashes, and intermittent fevers. His doctors gave him CT scans, laxatives, methadone, beta-blockers, Xanax, more surgery, and more antibiotics. An accurate evaluation of his case was difficult, however, because portions of his medical records never arrived from Bethesda. If they had, they would have shown a positive test for a kind of bacteria called Acinetobacter baumannii.
Quote:
On October 17, the marine was given a day pass to accompany his mother to Wal-Mart, where he bought her a purse. Hours after returning to the hospital, his condition deteriorated abruptly. His heart rate and blood pressure were elevated, and his white blood cell count was spiking. Nurses noted in his chart that he had become "disoriented to place, time, and people - thinking he is at home - sitting up thinks he's lying down." He struggled through occupational therapy the following morning, shivering and complaining of the cold.
Gadsden had a seizure and a heart attack the next day. The neurology team discovered that his cerebrum and cerebellum had swelled up overnight; he was clinically brain-dead. His family and minister were called to the hospital, and on October 22 he was taken off life support
Gadsden had a seizure and a heart attack the next day. The neurology team discovered that his cerebrum and cerebellum had swelled up overnight; he was clinically brain-dead. His family and minister were called to the hospital, and on October 22 he was taken off life support
Quote:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/enemy.html
The Marine Corps public affairs office sent out the customary press release attributing Gadsden's death to "injuries as a result of enemy action." But then a few weeks later, Zeada's dentist told her a Florida newspaper was reporting that her son had died of bacterial meningitis. Aided by US representative Bill Young, Zeada - who works as a cardiac-care technician in South Carolina - demanded an investigation.
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July 17th, 2008, 12:54 PM
Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General: Healthcare Inspection (PDF)
An in-depth investigation by the Veterans Administration of the death of a Marine named Jonathan Gadsden who acquired an acinetobacter infection while being evacuated from Iraq. He later died of meningitis caused by another organism called Nocardia. His mother, Zeada, was told at first that her son had died of his wounds.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/enemy.html
Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General: Healthcare Inspection (PDF)
An in-depth investigation by the Veterans Administration of the death of a Marine named Jonathan Gadsden who acquired an acinetobacter infection while being evacuated from Iraq. He later died of meningitis caused by another organism called Nocardia. His mother, Zeada, was told at first that her son had died of his wounds.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/enemy.html
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July 17th, 2008, 01:00 PM
Quote:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/enemy.html Since OPERATION Iraqi Freedom began in 2003, more than 700 US soldiers have been infected or colonized with Acinetobacter baumannii. A significant number of additional cases have been found in the Canadian and British armed forces, and among wounded Iraqi civilians. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has recorded seven deaths caused by the bacteria in US hospitals along the evacuation chain. Four were unlucky civilians who picked up the bug at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, while undergoing treatment for other life-threatening conditions. Another was a 63-year-old woman, also chronically ill, who shared a ward at Landstuhl with infected coalition troops.
Behind the scenes, the spread of a pathogen that targets wounded GIs has triggered broad reforms in both combat medical care and the Pentagon's networks for tracking bacterial threats within the ranks. Interviews with current and former military physicians, recent articles in medical journals, and internal reports reveal that the Department of Defense has been waging a secret war within the larger mission in Iraq and Afghanistan - a war against antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Behind the scenes, the spread of a pathogen that targets wounded GIs has triggered broad reforms in both combat medical care and the Pentagon's networks for tracking bacterial threats within the ranks. Interviews with current and former military physicians, recent articles in medical journals, and internal reports reveal that the Department of Defense has been waging a secret war within the larger mission in Iraq and Afghanistan - a war against antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
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July 17th, 2008, 01:11 PM
Reporting Infections as you would diseases
October 18 2007 The greatest obstacle to date in battling the spread of the Iraqi genotype Acinetobacter Baumannii is that there is no mandatory reporting of secondary infections from hospitals as you would with primary diseases. So without reliable reporting of actual infections then there is no reliable reporting data. Couple this with the Privacy Act of 1974 and the unwillingness of the military to divulge genomic information to civilian hospitals of this strain - well, you will have more unnecessary deaths. Worse yet the mutation of the Acinetobacter has now grown resistant to Impenium which now makes this superbug impervious to delayed treatment. Time is a critical factor in identification, and PCR/ESI-MS genotyping can identify from 2 to 4 hours what culturing cant do in 2 to 3 days. Everyday that people delay dealing with this makes this strain worse. Soon it will out flank MRSA in its severity as well as gruesomeness. Dying of this infection is a violent, and disfiguring event bordering on nothing seen before. Which means we need alternatives when antibiotics are no longer a solution. Its time to turn to Genomics to cripple this bacteria from its ability to replicate. Which would not surprise me that USAMRIID is probably already working on. Its time to go to Capital Hill and demand new regulations in dealing with Drug resistant infections. The medical industry is unable to manage itself and more will die needlessly until we beef up how we address drug resistant infections. Mandatory reporting, and tracking as well as faster diagnostics for intensive care units. To remove permeable surfaces from ICU's and privacy curtains. To promote strict hygiene standards as well as enforce tracking of healthy carriers, that meaning the colonized carriers versus the blood borne infected. Darker days wait ahead and it doesn't look like the CDC or DOD Health Affairs is taking REAL preventive measures to control this.
The Battle over multiple drug resistant microbes: MRSA, Acinetobacter, C. Difficile, etc. "Irresponsible medicine"Early this year an outbreak of MDR Acinetobacter Baumannii swept over Arizona, 236 cases in just two months. It was reported by the state disease monitoring systems, but ignored on the national level.
Now dubbed "Supergerms", they spread without warning and seemingly without official notices since they are infections instead of diseases. The government is taking advantage of this technicality.
An ICU nurse at Bethesda Naval in Washington DC leaves work feeling under the weather. Within 24 hours she is in a community hospital, intubated, with Acinetobacter Baumannii. It was determined that the bacteria were acquired from a patient at work. She succumbed to the infection quickly and with no fan fare. The story went silent.
At Brook Army Medical Center in Texas a soldier fights for his life, as his combat wounds are made worse by infections the doctors can't seem to handle. The only reason his story is known is that his civilian girl friend speaks up for him.
This outbreak that is spreading nation wide is largely due to the war in Iraq, and because of a legal technicality in reporting, the military and CDC will not discuss it publicly.
More people come forward, bit by bit, telling stories of how the hospital played down their infection. The one person who could have done something about it, "Rep. Dennis Moore" has walked away from the issue deciding it wasn't worth getting into even after what he had seen on a visit to Walter Reed.
This silent killer is continuing to spread, and to an indifferent country until it's YOUR turn. These bacteria will grow out of control in the near future as it spreads through neglect.
<SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Every VAMC in this country that had a soldier from Iraq in it is contaminated with MDR AB, as simple as a doorknob or privacy curtain to pass it on. Doctors often work at VA hospitals and community hospitals also.
The Victims remain silent
March 30th, 2008
Congress as well as Veteran Affairs is not under any special pressure to deal with MDR Acinetobacter Baumannii as there is no public outcry to deal with it. People who survive the infection go on with there lives with no fanfare and reason to speak up. Even TV reporter Kimberly Dozier had a bad run in with the infection after recovering from a close call but doesnt seem to want to talk much about the infection itself. What is the stigma of this infection that keeps people from wanting to talk about this. Also, when severe cases do want to talk about the media backs away. As did the Los Angeles Times to a unique case in California. This hit home for me when my own grandmother contracted this infection. She was about to loose her leg and gave up the will to live. My own family kept this fact from me until after the funeral only because they knew I was so out spoken on the infection. Like there is some personal shame attached to this infection. If the victims of this infection are not willing to talk then this is ideal for the CDC, DOD, and VA to pretty much ignore this as a common infection not needing special protocols to deal with. That past efforts have done just fine in dealing with this drug resistant infection though it has now spread nation wide to just about every hospital. The stigma of this drug resistant infection will allow it to go mostly unreported until it attains the death toll of the 19,000 a year MRSA fiasco in 2005. Hospitals can still hide behind closed doors not telling you there wards are positive for MDR AB. That once you contract it your pretty much on your own if the lab cultures even identify it. That it is a gruesome death for those beaten down by other complications, and often go into renal kidney failure just before the worst of it kicks in. Those that contract this unique bug arent even told what genome type it is because there is not effort to isolate that. Oh, it didn't come from Iraq - its eeerrr - just some common Acinetobacter. Yet, the CDC, DOD, and VA know this MDR Acinetobacter is a unique strain. Well, one thing is for sure. It will continue to spread unchecked and uncontrolled until one fine day you end up in a ER and then its your turn to see if you survive it. Then when someone who is rich, in Congress, or just famous dies of this then suddenly it will be important enough to confront. Until then this is a infection of the poor that will run amuck until the death toll rises enough that people will tire of this. You would think this was a sexually transmitted disease the way people shrug away from it. Yet, ignorance is not bliss when it comes your turn. March 30th, 2008
Reporting Infections as you would diseases
October 18 2007
The Battle over multiple drug resistant microbes: MRSA, Acinetobacter, C. Difficile, etc. "Irresponsible medicine"
Now dubbed "Supergerms", they spread without warning and seemingly without official notices since they are infections instead of diseases. The government is taking advantage of this technicality.
An ICU nurse at Bethesda Naval in Washington DC leaves work feeling under the weather. Within 24 hours she is in a community hospital, intubated, with Acinetobacter Baumannii. It was determined that the bacteria were acquired from a patient at work. She succumbed to the infection quickly and with no fan fare. The story went silent.
At Brook Army Medical Center in Texas a soldier fights for his life, as his combat wounds are made worse by infections the doctors can't seem to handle. The only reason his story is known is that his civilian girl friend speaks up for him.
This outbreak that is spreading nation wide is largely due to the war in Iraq, and because of a legal technicality in reporting, the military and CDC will not discuss it publicly.
More people come forward, bit by bit, telling stories of how the hospital played down their infection. The one person who could have done something about it, "Rep. Dennis Moore" has walked away from the issue deciding it wasn't worth getting into even after what he had seen on a visit to Walter Reed.
This silent killer is continuing to spread, and to an indifferent country until it's YOUR turn. These bacteria will grow out of control in the near future as it spreads through neglect.
<SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Every VAMC in this country that had a soldier from Iraq in it is contaminated with MDR AB, as simple as a doorknob or privacy curtain to pass it on. Doctors often work at VA hospitals and community hospitals also.
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July 17th, 2008, 01:12 PM
Acinetobacter Baumannii:
Acinetobacter Baumannii:
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The Iraqibacter American Legion Magazine March 2008 The Invisible Enemy in Iraq
Wired News - January 22nd, 2007 Walter Reed harrassment of Merlin Clark, bill collection
Iraq still hostile for civilians Drug-resistant 'superbug' traced to war in Iraq AFEB meeting Sept 2004 CDC MWMR Report Tricare Conference 2005 A Baumannii report Presentation of LCDR Kyle Peterson on A. Baumannii VA OIG death Florida The Iraq Infection Military Chase Mystery Infection CDC August 2005 report Focus On Acinetobacter Surveillance in 2005 Iraq Sampling Maps The Walter Reed Army Hospital inspection of Rep. Dennis Moore the behind scenes story of the effort to hide the outbreak by Department of Defense IOM Gulf War Infectious Disease Report
Leishmaniasis:
Leishmaniasis in Iraq from the Gulf War to OIF Walter Reed treating 500 cases of leishmaniasis from Iraq Blood Donor Deferral for troops returning from Iraq MRSA:
Personal MRSA Stories | MRSA Resources, the boils of Iraq Blastocystis Hominis:
Chronic Multisymptom Illness Affecting Air Force Veterans of the Gulf WarBlastocystis hominis was found in stool specimens
http://www.bhomcenter.org
http://www.acinetobacter.org/
