- WASHINGTON -- Two more soldiers
overseas have come down with serious pneumonia, bringing the unexplained
cases to 17, the U.S. Army said Monday.
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- Officials are investigating the cause of some 100 cases
counted since March, focusing on a number of them so serious the patients
had to be put on ventilators and flown to Europe.
-
- The number of serious cases was 15 last week and now
has risen to 17, said a statement Monday from the Army surgeon-general's
office.
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- The statement said officials have found "no infectious
agent common to all of the cases," and no evidence the patients were
exposed to biological or chemical weapons, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS), or environmental toxins.
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- Officials said last week that cases were among troops
serving in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, with 10 of the then-15
cases from Iraq and the others from Uzbekistan, Qatar and elsewhere. Monday's
statement didn't say where the new cases happened, and no one was available
to comment.
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- A two-person investigative team has gone to Landstuhl
Regional Medical Center in Germany, where most of the sick soldiers were
treated after evacuation. A six-person team was went to Iraq, including
infectious disease experts, laboratory workers and people to take samples
of soil, water and air as well as medical samples from patients.
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- The two teams were to review patient records and laboratory
results and interview health care workers and patients, if possible. The
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also is reviewing the cases.
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- Armywide, between 400 and 500 soldiers get pneumonia
each year. It is the severity of these new cases that has caused special
concern.
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