Downrange Hazard?

[unhappycamper]

Sgt. Timothy Butler, a 2nd Brigade Combat Team soldier from Baumholder, Germany, takes a smoke break during a May 25, 2008, patrol in the town of Nasif, Iraq. Doctors at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center say they have seen a resurgence in acute eosinophilic pneumonia, a rare illness that medical officials believe might be caused by troops who began smoking while deployed downrange.


Downrange Hazard?
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, October 2, 2008

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Military doctors are seeing a resurgence of a rare and sometimes fatal type of pneumonia that is striking young troops who started smoking while deployed downrange.

In the past five months, six U.S. servicemembers serving in Central Command’s area of responsibility have been diagnosed with acute eosinophilic pneumonia, or AEP. While the exact cause of the illness is unknown, 27 of the 36 troops who have contracted AEP since March 2003 had recently picked up the habit, according to a July 2008 information paper from the Army’s Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine.

Also, three-fourths of those troops came down with the illness while serving in Iraq. Other cases have originated with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Kuwait, Qatar and Uzbekistan.

Two troops have died as a result of the disease.

On average, the AEP patients are around 22 years old, said Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Patrick Allan, a critical care pulmonary physician at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57826