|
Marine flesh eating virus { December 16 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63156-2002Dec16.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63156-2002Dec16.html
Flesh-Eating Bacteria Hits Calif. Marine Base
Reuters
Monday, December 16, 2002; 5:25 PM
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Reuters) - A flesh-eating bacteria has killed at least one young recruit at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California and made 100 others ill, military officials said on Monday.
The bacteria, known as Group A streptococcus, also may be responsible for the unexplained deaths of two other teenage recruits at the training base since late November, officials said.
Strep A is a common bacteria people carry in their throats even when they're not sick. The bacteria commonly causes sore throats but can evolve into necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called flesh-eating bacteria, characterized by a flat red rash over large parts of the body.
About 6,000 others on the base, which trains about half of the U.S. Marine Corps' recruits each year, were tested for exposure to the bacteria and received antibiotics over the weekend, Lt. Mike Friel said.
Some 100 personnel who showed symptoms of Strep A infections or signs that they were carriers were hospitalized over the weekend, but many of them have returned to their units, Friel said.
Base officials are considering calling off training at the depot until they can solve the health crisis.
The latest death, that of 18-year-old Private Miguel Zavala of Greenfield, California, came on Sunday just three hours after Zavala sought medical treatment for a rash on his left ankle.
"While at the acute care area, the rash spread to the rest of his body," Friel said. "He was then taken to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego for evaluation and emergency medical care."
Four days earlier, Private Samuel Bruss of Kenosha, Wisconsin, died after completing a water survival training course. He had complained of chest pains after getting out of the base's swimming pool.
On Nov. 24, Private Neal Edwards, 18, of St. Clair, Missouri, died after collapsing during an obstacle course.
"Are they related? The answer to that is unknown," Friel said.
Strep A is a well-known enemy of U.S. military troops, who live and work in close proximity. The San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot commonly inoculates the 20,000 recruits it trains annually twice during their 13-week basic training to tamp down the disease, Friel said.
"This is something we have had a problem with since World War One," Friel said. The last outbreak of Strep A at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot was in 1991, he said.
© 2002 Reuters
|
|
