It's been known to happen.
Posted on 05/18/2002 9:58:35 AM PDT by knak
The mystery ailment that has laid low dozens of British troops in Afghanistan has been identified, the British Ministry of Defense said Saturday. Officials told journalists at a briefing in London that it was winter vomiting, an illness characterized by one or two days of severe vomiting and diarrhea.
TWENTY-TWO BRITISH servicemen reported sick on Friday with the illness that has struck a field hospital at Bagram air base near Kabul this week, taking to 40 the total number afflicted.
Scotland was recently hit by an outbreak. “Winter vomiting disease is caused by a group of viruses called small round structured viruses,” Dr. Peter Christie, consultant at the Scottish Center for Infection and Environmental Health, said on the center’s Web site.
“They usually cause short-lasting outbreaks but are extremely infectious and can affect a high proportion of people in classrooms, hospital wards or even in tour buses.”
“Good hygiene, especially hand-washing, can cut down the risk of spreading the virus, although it can still travel through the air to land on food and so infect other people,” Dr. Mac Armstrong, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said.
One of the newly infected British soldiers was seriously ill and was due to be flown back to Britain late on Friday. Eight medical personnel working at the field hospital in Bagram were airlifted out of Afghanistan earlier.
The field hospital has been closed, and more than 300 people have been quarantined.
About 5,000 soldiers from some 10 countries are in Bagram. None of the about 2,700 American troops deployed there are thought to have contracted the illness, said U.S. military spokesman Maj. Bryan Hilferty.
Let's hope that this is just a bad hygiene thing. (Although I've never heard of the Brits as being more prone to bad hygiene than Americans and none of our guys got this thing...)
Any bio-war specialists in this thread? Are "small round structured viruses" as a category normally used for experimental purposes?
Mark W.
It's been known to happen.
Talk about Winter vomiting disease ...
Mark W.
Actually, that's a slide of the more virulent, CVD* virus.
*Chronic Vomiting Disease
So, why is it "winter" vomiting, as opposed to say 'spring' vomiting (prevalent during spring in coastal cities like Panama City Beach, Daytona Beach, and has even been found inland around New Orleans)?
I can just imagine the diagnoses..'Hmmmm....vomiting, yes...(looks at calendar)..winter...Hmmm I wonder, yes! it's "winter vomiting"...that will be $4,287...Oh, and who is your medical carrier?
Look under part C. Viral Gastroenteritis.
Just what we needed to know, huh?
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