Mystery "pneumonia" is starting to strike down soldiers in Iraq.

[MadHound]

Is this the start of a Gulf War II syndrome?

Army Spec Josh Neusche of Montreal Mo died on July 12. However his parents are still looking for answers as to why he died. Neusche was assigned to the 203rd Engineer Brigade, who were on cleanup detail. On June 30th Neusche fell ill with what was originally was thought to be pneumonia. Then it started to attack his lungs, kidneys, muscle tissue, and liver, forcing him onto a respirator.
<http://www.news-leader.com/today/0729-Familystil-119974.html>

Josh isn't alone though. Nineteen other soldiers are currently ill from this mysterious disease, with another soldier dead. This comes on top of the fact that aprox. 10-20 soldiers a month are suffering from this malady, though so far there have only been these two deaths.
<http://www.lakesunleader.com/display/inn_news/news1.txt>
<http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/97607D5151F33ECC86256D71001BC190?OpenDocument&Headline=Death+of+soldier+from+Missouri+will+be+investigated+amid+spike+in+pneumonia+cases>

The other soldiers are being treated in Landstuhl Germany, where Army investigators are headed to gather evidence, along with going to undisclosed locations in Iraq. The Neusches have requested and will recieve a thorough autopsy of Josh by the Missouri National Guard Surgeon General. I have heard on the latest local update on this story that a third soldier has died from this disease, and that according to the Neusches, when Josh died the room he was in was sealed and subjected to a two day decontamination procedure. Pray for your loved ones over there folks, this is some scary shit

[IndianaGreen]

1. Depleted uranium?

Besides bacteria and viruses, he said, pneumonia also can be brought on by fungus, parasites and noninfectious causes such as exposure to metal dust.

Breathing DU dust, could this be the reason?

[MadHound]

2. Who knows?

The symptons mentioned have some similarity to internal radiation contamination, but not fully. It could be toxins from a whole slew of shit that the US Army uses over there.

Modern US warfare, the gift that keeps on killing.

[Stevendsmith]

3. Sounds DU-Related to me

N/T

[David Zephyr]

4. Bumping This Story Up Where It Belongs.

:kick:

[SoCalDem]

5. DEET + sunscreen + all the funky shots they had to get

and of course, the DU is a factor too.. The human body can only absorb just so many "insults" before it reacts..:(

[Pastiche423]

7. Add anthrax shots

DU, the heat, unsanitary conditons, lack of water and unbalanced diets, you have a recipe for death and/or serious illness.

They all need to come home.

[cthrumatrix]

6. the sad part is ....this was totally expected ...since they got sick after

the last Gulf War....but no press coverage ...no concern.

This is just plain silly. We are letting these crooks do whatever they want and use our children as pawns of war.

[Trek234]

8. This could be nothing

Many of these soldiers have likely never even been to the Middle East. It is not entirely unlikely to speculate that they are catching things that the native population is well immune to.

For example - the native americans dieing by the thousands when europeans came over. The europeans were resistant to any disease they may have been carrying, but the native americans having no basis for an immunity were fatally effected.