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CHICAGO, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A rare and sometimes deadly pneumonia has hit 18 U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq, and Army medical investigators are at a loss to explain the cause, according to a study published on Tuesday. In a report appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center said two of the soldiers had died from the rare illness, called acute eosinophilic pneumonia, or AEP. No common source was found for the outbreak that occurred between March 2003 and March 2004 among the soldiers in Iraq. The study covered only...

Sudden death raises SARS fear Published: December 18, 2003 By MATTHEW D. LaPLANTE Of the News-Register A McMinnville woman's sudden death at Willamette Valley Medical Center, following a trip to China, has state and local health officials investigating the possibility of SARS. However, the same officials say the likelihood of the disease is slim. "We are considering SARS testing. We are having discussion with people trying to make sure they know this has crossed our minds," said Paul Cieslak, manager of the state Department of Human Services' communicable disease program. "But right now, it's so very unlikely." Cieslak said the...

Mystery blood clots kill U.S. troops Monday 06-Oct-2003 8:58PM Story from United Press International Copyright 2003 by United Press International (via ClariNet) WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Several U.S. soldiers in the Iraqi war died from sudden illnesses and a United Press International probe shows those were triggered by unexplained blood clots. The Pentagon says blood clots caused two soldiers to collapse and die. At least eight other soldiers have also collapsed and died from what the military has described as non-combat-related causes. NBC reporter David Bloom also died of a blood clot in his lung after collapsing near Baghdad....

Mystery blood clots felling U.S. troops By Mark Benjamin Investigations Editor Published 10/6/2003 12:41 PMView printer-friendly version WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Unexplained blood clots are among the reasons a number of U.S. soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom have died from sudden illnesses, an investigation by United Press International has found. In addition to NBC News Correspondent David Bloom, who died in April of a blood clot in his lung after collapsing south of Baghdad, the Pentagon has told families that blood clots caused two soldiers to collapse and die. At least eight other soldiers have also collapsed and died...

Thu September 11, 2003 06:34 PM ET By Paul Simao ATLANTA (Reuters) - The U.S. Army said on Thursday it did not know what had caused an outbreak of a severe type of pneumonia that killed two soldiers serving in Iraq and caused 17 on duty in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to be hospitalized. The illnesses, which were reported in a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, occurred between March and August in a group of full-time active duty personnel and reservists deployed in Iraq, Kuwait, Djibouti, Qatar and Uzbekistan....

A Dunedin woman complained of flu-like symptoms not long before her 12-year-old daughter heard a thump and found her dead on the floor of their home. Julie Millan died suddenly last Friday at her home in the central Dunedin suburb of Mornington from what is thought to have been a pulmonary haemorrhage - bleeding in the lungs. The 46-year-old housewife's death is similar to that of two other west Dunedin residents who died this month with unexplained lung haemorrhages. But deadly coincidence is considered the most likely explanation for the sudden cluster of mystery deaths. The three were unknown to...

Hospitals have been placed on high alert over a mystery disease that has killed three people. Two died within an hour of collapsing. Health authorities said last night that they were startled at the sudden deaths of two women and a man in Dunedin and were "very concerned" that the disease killed so quickly. They issued a nationwide alert, mostly to warn hospitals to watch out for symptoms but also to find out whether the disease had spread beyond Dunedin. At a press conference last night, they ruled out Sars as a cause but said they had no idea what...

Published 8/7/2003 6:13 PM WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The father of a soldier who died of pneumonia this spring said Thursday the Army has excluded her death from its investigation of deadly pneumonia because it wants to cover up vaccine side effects. "The government is covering this up and it is a dog-gone shame," said Moses Lacy, whose daughter, Army Spc. Rachael Lacy, died April 4 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after getting pneumonia. Lacy said his daughter "was a healthy young woman" but got ill within days of getting anthrax and smallpox vaccinations on March 2...

7 more cases of mystery illness Military trying to identify malady that killed lake area soldier By Marsha Paxson Lake Sun LAKE OF THE OZARKS -- Seven more soldiers in Iraq have contracted the same puzzling illness that has killed two soldiers, including one from the lake area. The latest cases bring the number of affected troops to 19. All have been evacuated to the same Landstuhl, Germany, hospital where Spec. Josh Neusche, 20, of Montreal was treated before he died July 12. It is believed Neusche contracted the illness, first thought to be pneumonia, while conducting cleanup operations with...

<p>Two more U.S. soldiers serving in the Middle East were placed on ventilators this week after developing severe pneumonia, Army officials said Thursday. Since March 1, approximately 100 troops have been afflicted with the illness, according to a news release from the Army Surgeon General. Of those cases, 14 have been placed on respirators and two have died — including Missouri National Guard Spc. Joshua Neusche of Montreal, in Camden County.</p>

THE Pentagon admitted yesterday that it could not explain a deadly spate of pneumonia among US troops serving in the Middle East. About 100 US soldiers, mostly in Iraq, have contracted the illness. Two had died and another 15 became seriously ill, requiring the support of a ventilator. The US Army dispatched two investigative medical teams last week to Iraq and Germany -- where many of the infected troops have been treated -- but tried yesterday to talk down the possibility of biological weapons or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome being involved. ``Based on all the information we have to date,...

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army should look at whether the anthrax vaccine is behind the unexplained cluster of pneumonia cases among soldiers in Iraq, according to the co-author of a government-sponsored study that last year found the vaccine was the "possible or probable" cause of pneumonia in two soldiers. Dr. John L. Sever of George Washington University Medical School told United Press International Tuesday that he expects the military to consider the anthrax vaccine, among other possibilities, as it investigates pneumonia among soldiers in and around Iraq, where troops have been widely vaccinated against anthrax. The Pentagon...

The United States Army has dispatched a team of medical experts to Iraq to investigate a serious outbreak of pneumonia among US troops, with two dead and more than 100 ill. Lieutenant-General James Peake, the army's surgeon general, has sent a team of six to Iraq and two more doctors to Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Germany, where some of the troops were treated after being flown from Iraq, officials said on Friday. Army Medical Command spokeswoman Lyn Kukral said: "It is pneumonia. The question is: what is the cause?" "You've got a healthy population and a young population [of...

<p>The parents of an American soldier who died in Iraq after contracting a mysterious pneumonialike illness that ravaged his major organs are convinced that their son stumbled across deadly chemical weapons while clearing rubble from one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.</p>

<p>The Army is trying to figure out what is causing a rash of serious pneumonia cases, including two fatalities, among soldiers serving in Iraq.</p> <p>A six-person team of specialists was en route to Iraq Friday to investigate 14 cases of pneumonia serious enough that the soldiers had to be put on ventilators to breathe and evacuated from the region, the Army Surgeon General's office said Friday.</p>

LAKE OF THE OZARKS -- Seven more soldiers in Iraq have contracted the same puzzling illness that has killed two soldiers, including one from the lake area. The latest cases bring the number of affected troops to 19. All have been evacuated to the same Landstuhl, Germany, hospital where Spec. Josh Neusche, 20, of Montreal was treated before he died July 12. It is believed Neusche contracted the illness, first thought to be pneumonia, while conducting cleanup operations with the 203rd Engineer Battalion in Baghdad. "The Army Surgeon General confirmed that three or four of the soldier's in Josh's unit...

Mystery illness kills Missouri soldierJosh Neusche died Saturday; his family waits for answers.By Eric EckertNews-Leader Staff July 16, 2003   Montreal, Mo. &#8212; Seventeen-year-old Jacob Neusche spent Tuesday morning packing up his big brother's belongings &#8212; books, a high school letterman's jacket and a Class A uniform.  "That's what Josh will be buried in," the teenager said, referring to the uniform.   Missouri National Guard Spc. Josh Neusche, 20, died Saturday at the Homburg Hospital in Germany from a mysterious illness. A member of the 203rd Engineer Battalion, he is the only Missouri National Guardsman on the Department of Defense's...

TORONTO (AP)--The number of probable SARS cases in Canada's largest city could be 60 or more, a leading figure in Toronto's efforts to contain the disease said Thursday. Dr. Donald Low said health officials were likely to designate more patients as probable cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome when they apply a broader definition of the diagnosis to a new outbreak first noticed last week. Officials worry the World Health Organization could issue another warning against travel to the city, like one on April 23 that was lifted a week later. Dr. Colin D'Cunha, the Ontario commissioner of public health,...

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IRVING, Texas -- State health officials Wednesday identified the illness that killed a 13-year-old Irving girl and left her 15-year-old brother in a coma. According to officials, an illness known as "walking pneumonia" is responsible for killing Rachel Johnson (left) and sickening her brother, Mathew (right). Officials also confirmed that the teens' three other siblings, who had been hospitalized as a precautionary measure, also have the illness and are being treated. Officials said that the children's parents were not ill. However, despite their findings, health officials said they don't know why both children had such sudden and severe reactions to...

<p>BEIJING, China -- Chinese and Hong Kong authorities are on the alert as a mystery illness sweeps through southern China.</p> <p>The pneumonia-like sickness has so far killed at least five people and hospitalized around 300, with panicked Chinese flocking to pharmacies to stock up on medicines.</p>

Australian Broadcasting Corporation LATELINE Late night news & current affairs TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT LOCATION: abc.net.au > Lateline > Archives URL: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/s837819.htm Broadcast: 22/4/2003Aust virologist leads WHO's fight against SARSTony Jones speaks to Professor John McKenzie from Hong Kong about the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus. Professor Mckenzie is an internationally recognised virologist from the University of Queensland and was sent to China less than a month ago by the World Health Organisation to work as their team leader in the country before the extent of SARS was known. You could describe Professor McKenzie and his team as "virus detectives"....

Director of Health issues isolation order **************************************** Director of Health, Dr Margaret Chan, has ordered Block E of Amoy Garden in Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon Bay, to be isolated for a period of 10 days starting from 6 am this morning (March 31) to prevent the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (commonly known as atypical pneumonia), a Government spokesman said. The decision was taken because of the continued steep rise in the number of cases of infection in the building in the past few days. The order, designed to protect the health of residents and the community as a...

My American friends living in Hong Kong called last night. The SARS in Hong Kong is much worse than has been reported. China has been fudging on the number of cases. He said that the number of new infections have been DOUBLING DAILY. It's spreading like wildfire. It's more contageous than has been admitted and there is no cure. The schools have all closed and many workplaces are not requiring employees to come in. They expect the Airport to CLOSE .. nobody knows exactly when, and people are scrambling to get out of the country before it does. The hospitals...

HONGKONG -- About 20 people have died from atypical pneumonia in China's southern Guangdong province, a Hongkong newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing an official source. 'Here, some 20 people died of the disease. But Guangdong is a big place and the figure is relatively small,' the unidentified source told the South China Morning Post. 'We are having new cases every day but the situation is better than in Hongkong,' the source said. Ten people have died in the past two weeks in Hongkong, which borders Guangdong, from a mysterious illness known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) that the World...

More deaths from mystery illness Doctors are hunting the cause of the illness A Vietnamese nurse has become the latest person to die after contracting a mystery virus, bringing the worldwide death total to 22. The illness, known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, had already killed another Vietnamese nurse and a French doctor working at the Vietnam-France Hospital in Hanoi. All three are thought to have been exposed to the virus after treating an American businessman admitted with a flu-like illness in February, who later died in hospital in Hong Kong. A male health worker from the Hanoi...

SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME - WORLDWIDE (09) ************************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases This report contains information on virology studies on patients with SARS from: [1] Hong Kong, SAR [2] Germany [3] Singapore and [4] WHO's update on virology ****** [1] Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 19:16:42 +0800 From: "John Tam" Severe acute respiratory syndrome - worldwide --------------------------------------------- We are able to confirm that the patient whose NPA [nasophayngeal aspirate] was found to contain paramyxovirus is a health care worker with SARS who was exposed to the index patient in the...

Four in state may have flu-like mystery illnessThe state Health Department is investigating whether four Illinois residents have contracted a deadly flu-like illness that has spread across the globe, officials said Monday. . . . . .Four people in Illinois are suspected of having the illness--two live in the Chicago area and two are in MacLean County, said health department spokeswoman Jena Welliever. All have recently traveled to Asia. She did not know their conditions, but all were resting at home. ... "We are working with hospitals, within our own department, with other partners, increasing our own surveillance and getting...

Paramyxovirus-like particles identified by electron microscopy Numerous tests have been performed on the 3 patients admitted on Saturday 15 March to the Isolation Unit at Frankfurt am Main with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Tests from respiratory specimens for influenza A and B virus, respiratory syncytial virus, enteroviruses, _Mycoplasma pneumoniae_ and _Chlamydia_ spp. by antigen enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were all negative; antibody tests for dengue, influenza A and B, measles, hantaviruses, _Mycoplasma pneumoniae_ and _Chlamydia_ spp. were likewise negative or unremarkable so far; further test results are pending. Particles morphologically resembling paramyxoviruses...

Hong Kong Pneumonia Cases Rise to 123 Tue March 18, 2003 04:23 AM ET HONG KONG (Reuters) - The number of people in Hong Kong infected by an unidentified pneumonia rose to 123 on Tuesday, up from 95 a day earlier, a Hospital Authority official said. Of these victims, 111 are suffering a severe form of pneumonia, compared with 83 on Monday, said Ko Wing-man, a director at the authority. The mysterious respiratory disease, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome and believed to have originated in China late last year, has killed nine people and made hundreds sick here, in...

hinese health officials yesterday gave the World Health Organization the first, sketchy details about a mysterious respiratory ailment that is believed to have first broken out in Guangdong province last November and that Chinese officials say has tapered off in recent weeks.W.H.O. officials were elated to receive the information, because it was the first official communication from China about the outbreak and because it provides a longer-term view of how the illness has behaved since the first cases were detected. Although the new information hints that the outbreak may be ending in Guangdong for unknown reasons, W.H.O. officials say they...

<p>On the eve of a war with Iraq, the only news shocking enough to knock Baghdad out of the Internet chatrooms is a terrifying modern-day plague. When dozens of people fell ill with a mysterious pneumonia-like illness over the past week, the World Health Organization issued a rare advisory for travelers and medical professionals to be on the lookout. WHO dubbed the new bug "severe acute respiratory syndrome." The handful of people who have perished from SARS died rapidly and uncomfortably. The illness thus far hasn't responded quickly to top-drawer antibacterial and antiviral treatments, although the WHO has expressed relief that patients in intensive care units have improved in some cases.</p>

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - A doctor from Singapore believed infected with a mysterious form of pneumonia that hit parts of Asia was taken off an airplane from New York on Saturday and quarantined in a Frankfurt hospital, German health authorities said. The doctor, believed to be the first person in Europe to be infected with the atypical virus, was flying to Singapore from New York, where he already began to suffer symptoms, Dr. Angela Wirtz, of the Hessen state health office said in a statement. Fearful the virus may be spreading, the Geneva-based international health organization, WHO, issued an emergency...

TORONTO (CP) - Health officials have confirmed a ninth Canadian case of atypical pneumonia and are preparing to test hundreds of potential patients as worries grow around the world about the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease. Doctors don't know what causes the illness, which is believed to spread through close contact with an infected person. On Saturday, Toronto officials confirmed a seventh local case, a day after announcing that six family members had been infected, including a mother and son who died. The seventh patient had come in close contact with the family, but officials wouldn't say what the...

Tests are being conducted on three Australians who are suspected of contracting a potentially deadly strain of pneumonia which has so far killed nine people. A man and a woman are being treated in isolation in two Victorian hospitals along with a woman in Perth who have all presented with partial symptoms of the highly contagious strain. Dr Robert Hall from Victoria's Department of Human Services says it is a similar situation in other states. "Most states are now reporting suspect cases though I'm not aware of anybody who's reported a case that fully meets the criteria," he said. Health...

A patient has been admitted to a UK hospital suspected of having the mystery pneumonia bug branded "a worldwide health threat". Nine people have died from the strain which experts say cannot be stopped by standard drugs. It has so far spread to three continents through air travel. The Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, said a suspected case had come into the UK. He told the BBC: "We are watching this outbreak extremely closely. But the latest development is this morning a patient has been admitted to hospital who came in on a plane yesterday from...

Mar 17, 2003Experts Suspect Virus Is Cause of Asian Mystery Illness By Emma Ross The Associated Press Health experts searching for the cause of a frightening outbreak of a deadly flu-like illness in Asia say the culprit is probably a virus, and they are encouraged that some victims appear to be getting better. More than 150 people have fallen ill, mostly in Hong Kong and Vietnam, over the past three weeks. And experts suspect that another 300 people in China's Guangdong province had the same disease beginning in mid-November. While experts are unsure precisely what is causing the outbreak,...

Advertisement Related Links World Health Organization Toronto — As infectious disease experts around the globe scramble to find the cause of a mysterious and deadly pneumonia, the number of confirmed and suspected cases in Canada rose to 10, public health officials said Sunday. One of two suspected cases is a doctor who treated infected members of a family that was the source of the bulk of the Canadian cases. "My understanding is that she is the family physician who looked after a number of the family members," said Dr. Andrew Simor, head of microbiology at Toronto's Sunnybrook and Women's College...

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Find Your City, County, or State Health OfficersDirectories, contacts, hotlines, search features. On StatePublicHealth.org (ASTHO) site. CDC Updates Press Release: CDC issues health alert about atypical pneumonia (March 15, 2003)In response to reports of increasing numbers of cases of an atypical pneumonia that WHO has called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), CDC has announced several steps to alert U.S. health authorities at local & state levels... Media Advisory: CDC's Response to Atypical Pneumonia in Southeast Asia and Canada (March 15, 2003) Transcript from telebriefing Health Alert Notice (March 15, 2003) For international travelers arriving in...

The Center for Disease Control reported yesterday Taiwan's third case hit of atypical pneumonia, a potentially fatal disease, cases of which have now been found in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and Canada. The center said the World Health Organization reported yesterday increases in atypical pneumonia cases in Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. Chen Tsai-ching (³¯¦A®Ê), the center's director-general, said in a press conference that the four cases in Canada were from the same family. "Three of them have traveled to Hong Kong and two of them have died," said Chen. Chen added that no fatal cases have been reported...

ONG KONG, March 16 -- The number of cases of what the World Health Organization now calls "severe acute respiratory syndrome" continued to rise through the weekend and spread to additional countries, especially in Southeast Asia. More than 150 patients sick with the disease have been found in Hong Kong, mainland China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as in Canada, the World Health Organization announced over the weekend, calling the disease a "worldwide health threat." And The Associated Press reported that a man in Frankfurt, Germany, was in quarantine after he was taken off a Singapore...

Ninth person dies of mystery disease as WHO warns world heath threat spread by air travel By MARGIE MASON HANOI, Vietnam (AP): A ninth person has died of a mystery form of pneumonia that the World Health Organization says cannot be stopped by standard drugs and is being spread across the globe by international air travelers. In a rare emergency warning, Geneva-based WHO described the fast-acting, highly contagious disease as "a worldwide health threat.'' It first struck China's southern Guangdong province in January when five people died. In recent days about 150 infections had been reported in Asia, Europe and...

Breaking News: World Alert on Mystery Disease (Broke 1 Hour Ago in Australia) THE World Health Organisation has issued a rare emergency travel warning that a mysterious form of pneumonia poses a worldwide health threat. The disease, known as atypical pneumonia, which has killed four people and hospitalised scores of others, is spreading from Asia around the world. Most outbreaks of the highly contagious illness have been reported this past week in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. In the latest fatality, a Vietnamese nurse died at the weekend after having earlier treated an American businessman who also died of the...

Press Release March 15, 2003 Contact: CDC Media Relations404-639-3286Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CDC Issues Health Alert About Atypical PneumoniaAtlanta: In response to reports of increasing numbers of cases of an atypical pneumonia that the World Health Organization (WHO) has called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced several steps to alert US health authorities at local and state levels.CDC activated its emergency operations center on Friday, March 14, upon learning of several cases reported in Canada among travelers recently returned from Southeast Asia and their family members. The federal public health agency:...