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Unknown illness kills at least 14 Syrian soldiers, thousands hospitalized
Report: Epidemic sweeps Syrian army
Published Thursday 22/07/2010 (updated) 23/07/2010 11:44 Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - A mysterious epidemic has paralyzed Syria?s army, Israel?s Channel 2 reported Thursday.
So far, 14 Syrian soldiers have died from the unidentified disease and thousands more have been hospitalized, forcing the army to cancel training exercises, the channel reported.
The report added that the epidemic began in army camps in the north and has slowly spread south, with no indication yet of the cause.
The above thread mentions a possible "plague" outbreak in the same army, which was denied. Perhaps the unknown illness was errantly reported as plague?
Assad orders to stop military exercises due to mysterious virus
Published July 13th, 2010 - 09:20 GMT
The World Tribune newspaper quoted government sources as as saying that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had issued an order to stop all military exercises during the summer. The Syrian leader adopted this decision following the spreadof a large number diarrhea cases among soldiers within military camps.
The paper added that the government attributes this to be a major financial crisis which affected the budget of the Syrian army. There are also rumors among Syrian circles that the reason for diarrhea is a virus carried by Israel to Syria.
Syrian troops ovewhelmed by diarrhea epidemic, heat wave, budget shortfall
LONDON ? Syria was said to have halted military exercises amid a troop epidemic.
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The Syrian opposition has asserted that President Bashar Assad ordered the suspension of military training. Assad was said to have issued the order in mid-June 2010 amid an epidemic of diarrhea at army camps.
The Syrian military, said to have come under increasing domination by Iran, has not acknowledged the training suspension. The military, with 600,000 troops and more than 2,100 main battle tanks, has been hampered by a severe budget shortfall.
In Damascus, rumors circulated that the epidemic stemmed from a virus introduced by Israel or another enemy of the Assad regime. But physicians who treated the soldiers were quoted as saying that the diarrhea was the result of food and water contamination linked to a heat wave that struck Syria.
The opposition Web site Nida Syria reported that new recruits were hardest hit by the spread of diarrhea and related digestive disorders, Middle East Newsline reported.
Nida quoted soldiers as saying that their rations were inadequate for the brutal summer training. One recruit said breakfast for eight soldiers consisted of eight olives, four loaves of bread and 200 grams of jam.
An opposition leader, however, did not rule out that the epidemic was the work of a hostile intelligence agency. Farid Ghadry, president of the Reform Party of Syria, said Syria's enemies have multiplied since 2003.
"Any country could have been involved, including European countries who have paid a dear price politically for engaging with Assad with no results to show for," Ghadry said.
"The military hospitals have been receiving hundreds of cases of soldiers being treated for food poisoning," an opposition source said.
Nida quoted soldiers as saying that the epidemic stemmed from the harsh conditions in training, including a shortage of food and water.
Re: Unknown illness kills at least 14 Syrian soldiers, thousands hospitalized
It looks like some kind of large outbreak of diarrheal illness (especially considering only the army and not civilian contacts seem to be affected), and the first article seems to indicate an apparent CFR of less than 1%. Perhaps army rations were contaminated (or nutritionally deficient).
It does look like the errant plague report linked in post #2 is the result of someone mistaking the unidentified diarrheal illness for plague (or equivalently using the word "plague" as a synonym for "epidemic" without realizing it was also the name of a specific disease).
LONDON, ? Syria's military was said be fighting a mysterious epidemic that has killed several soldiers and delayed programs.
The Syrian opposition asserted that an unknown disease has been raging through Syrian Army barracks, particularly in the north. The opposition said the suspected epidemic has killed several people and delayed a recruitment program.
"The enrollment of new conscripts has been postponed to the beginning of next month rather than this month," the opposition West Kurdistan Society said.
In a statement on July 12, the society, which reports on the Kurdish minority in Syria, said an undetermined number of soldiers have died of the "unknown disease."
File photo. Syrian soldier
On July 10, the statement said, 10 Army recruits were rushed to a hospital in the northeastern Kurdish city of Qamishli in Syrian Kurdistan [Western Kurdistan] and were reported in critical condition.
The Syrian military has not acknowledged the epidemic. But officials have confirmed that Syrian hospitals were treating many people for exhaustion and other illnesses related to the current heat wave in the Levant.
This marked the second report by the Syrian opposition of an epidemic that has struck the Army. The first report said many Syrian soldiers were hospitalized by what appeared to be dysentery. The disease was attributed to a lack of water, food and poor sanitary conditions in Syrian military training camps.
"There has been a lot of speculation about the reasons for this disease, some blaming the vaccines given to new soldiers, which may have been corrupted," the West Kurdistan Society said. "Others attributed the cause to the state of the weather as there is a wave of intense heat and high temperatures. Some attribute it to a bacterial contamination in water and food in the barracks, and so far this is limited to members of the military, not Syrian civilians."
The Kurdish group said Syrian hospitals were overflowing with soldiers and civil servants believed infected by the epidemic. The report said Syrian physicians have failed to reach a diagnosis and were hampered by poor equipment and training.
So far, at least 14 soldiers, all of them new recruits, were said to have died in the epidemic. The Kurdish group cited deaths in military hospitals in Harasta and Teshrin.
"The Syrian government is unable to provide quick solutions to reduce the spread of the disease, which has turned into a nightmare that haunts members of the Army and the Syrian community in general," the statement said.
Bethlehem - Ma'an - moved on Wednesday, 30 soldiers belong to the brigade "Golani" from a military base on the Lebanese border to the hospital after suffering a viral disease manifested symptoms of diarrhea and severe vomiting and high fever.
And Israeli sources said the injured soldiers serving in the 13 Battalion of the brigade "Golani" They were part of field operations in a logical Lebanese Shebaa Farms that the Israeli army called the name of the "Har Dov."
The sources added that the soldiers were taken to hospital Zev city of Safad and other medical centers, in an attempt to diagnose the virus, which beat them, and they come from.
Given the sensitivity of the unequivocal serve the unit in question, are currently being examined for all the soldiers, to make sure not to have the disease, which may be prohibitive for work, according to Israeli sources.
The newspaper "Yediot Ahronot" Hebrew-speaking military sources in the Northern Command, as saying: "The leadership of the region aware of Syrian soldiers infecting virus is similar, but did not discover the relationship between the two so far."
According to Israeli sources were not the only incident yesterday, where he scored in a number of recent casualties among Israeli soldiers, but it attaches the time new troops came to a reception or the rules of training and they are not accustomed to the conditions of service in the army
Bethlehem - Ma'an - moved on Wednesday, 30 soldiers belong to the brigade "Golani" from a military base on the Lebanese border to the hospital after suffering a viral disease manifested symptoms of diarrhea and severe vomiting and high fever.
And Israeli sources said the injured soldiers serving in the 13 Battalion of the brigade "Golani" They were part of field operations in a logical Lebanese Shebaa Farms that the Israeli army called the name of the "Har Dov."
The sources added that the soldiers were taken to hospital Zev city of Safad and other medical centers, in an attempt to diagnose the virus, which beat them, and they come from.
Given the sensitivity of the unequivocal serve the unit in question, are currently being examined for all the soldiers, to make sure not to have the disease, which may be prohibitive for work, according to Israeli sources.
The newspaper "Yediot Ahronot" Hebrew-speaking military sources in the Northern Command, as saying: "The leadership of the region aware of Syrian soldiers infecting virus is similar, but did not discover the relationship between the two so far."
According to Israeli sources were not the only incident yesterday, where he scored in a number of recent casualties among Israeli soldiers, but it attaches the time new troops came to a reception or the rules of training and they are not accustomed to the conditions of service in the army
Safad is in Israel, not Syria. The soldiers who would be taken to Safad would be Israeli soldiers, not Syrian ones. This outbreak has likely spread beyond Syria.
Browse > Home / News, Syria / Unknown deadly disease affecting Syrian military Unknown deadly disease affecting Syrian military
July 12, 2010 by sks
Filed under News, Syria
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Conflicting messages have been given about the number of soldiers who have died of an unknown disease that has affects Syrian military troops. The enrolment of new conscripts has been postponed to the beginning of next month rather than this month.
Two days ago, ten conscripts were transported to the National Hospital in Qamishli who were also suffering from the same disease, and they are said to be in critical condition.
There has been a lot of speculation about the reasons for this disease, some blaming the vaccines given to new soldiers which may have been corrupted; others attributed the cause to the state of the weather as there is a wave of intense heat and high temperatures. Some attribute it to a bacterial contamination in water and food in the barracks, and so far this is limited to members of the military, not Syrian civilians. The hospitals are overflowing with ill military and government personnel who are suffering from this unknown illness which is spreading rapidly. Doctors seem unable to make a diagnosis, and are currently powerless to stop it. There is much speculation about the rapid spread of the disease; some say this is because of poorly trained and equipped medical personnel in military units where work is limited to first aid, and staff are not interested and neglectful of recruits. It is becoming worse. This disease is rapidly spreading and has claimed the life of one conscript from the city of Hassaka region. There are news reports of other deaths in other provinces in Syria. It is estimated that in Teshrin and Harrasta military hospitals 13 conscripts have died. The Syrian government is unable to provide quick solutions to reduce the spread of the disease, which has turned into a nightmare that haunts members of the army and the Syrian community in general.
Media Institute of West Kurdistan Society
Archive Number 20100727.2521
Published Date 27-JUL-2010
Subject PRO/EDR> Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2010 (12): West Asia RFI
CHOLERA, DIARRHEA AND DYSENTERY UPDATE 2010 (12): WEST ASIA, REQUEST
FOR INFORMATION
********************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
In this update:
[1] Diarrhea, fatal, troops - Syria: RFI
[2], [3] Diarrhea, fatal - Yemen: RFI
Syria's military was said to be fighting a mysterious epidemic that
has killed several soldiers and delayed programs. The Syrian
opposition asserted that an unknown disease has been raging through
Syrian Army barracks, particularly in the north. The opposition said
the suspected epidemic has killed several people and delayed a
recruitment program.
"The enrollment of new conscripts has been postponed to the beginning
of next month [August 2010] rather than this month," the opposition
West Kurdistan Society said.
In a statement on 12 Jul 2010, the society, which reports on the
Kurdish minority in Syria, said an undetermined number of soldiers
have died of the "unknown disease." On 10 Jul 2010, the statement
said, 10 Army recruits were rushed to a hospital in the northeastern
city of Qamishli and were reported in critical condition.
The Syrian military has not acknowledged the epidemic. But officials
have confirmed that Syrian hospitals were treating many people for
exhaustion and other illnesses related to the current heat wave in the
Levant.
This marked the 2nd report by the Syrian opposition of an epidemic
that has struck the Army. The 1st report said many Syrian soldiers
were hospitalized by what appeared to be dysentery. The disease was
attributed to a lack of water, food, and poor sanitary conditions in
Syrian military training camps.
"There has been a lot of speculation about the reasons for this
disease, some blaming the vaccines given to new soldiers, which may
have been corrupted," the West Kurdistan Society said. "Others
attributed the cause to the state of the weather as there is a wave of
intense heat and high temperatures. Some attribute it to a bacterial
contamination in water and food in the barracks, and so far this is
limited to members of the military, not Syrian civilians."
The Kurdish group said Syrian hospitals were overflowing with soldiers
and civil servants believed infected by the epidemic. The report said
Syrian physicians have failed to reach a diagnosis and were hampered
by poor equipment and training. So far, at least 14 soldiers, all of
them new recruits, were said to have died in the epidemic. The Kurdish
group cited deaths in military hospitals in Harasta and Teshrin.
--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The etiology or etiologies of the gastrointestinal disease in the
soldiers is not clear. - Mod.LL]
[Qamishli can be located via the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map
of Syria at
<http://healthmap.org/r/01K5>. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]
A total of 4 persons including a child died in a diarrhea epidemic
last week [week of 21 Jun 2010] in Lahij governorate and 127 others
are affected by this outbreak. Meanwhile, 7 children died of the
epidemic in Hajjah governorate during the last week and 200 people
were inflicted with the epidemic, medical sources in Hajjah told
Sahwah Net.
--
Communicated by
Michelle Sellors
Specialist Nurse Travel Health
MASTA Ltd
<michelle.sellors@masta.org>
[The etiology or etiologies of the gastrointestinal disease in the
Yemeni population is not clear. - Mod.LL]
[The Health/ProMED-mail interactive map of Yemen is available at
<http://healthmap.org/r/01K6>. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]
The increased spread of a diarrheal epidemic has caused speculation in
the province of the Hajj Directorate, where medical sources said that
the rural hospital is receiving more than 15 cases a day while sources
for Marib Press said that the cases showed symptoms of diarrhea, acute
vomiting and abdominal pain, and were treated with fluids and
intravenous fluids.
According to Dr Ayman Mohsen Alhabayli, the number (of patients) with
the disease has reached 183 and the deaths so far are 4. Marib Press
stated that the 4 cases died in the home or during the ambulance
transport to hospital, but there have been no deaths in the hospital.
Doctors at Ibn Khaldoun Haj [said] that symptoms of the epidemic are
like cholera. The government reported that the results of laboratory
tests sent to the Sana'a central laboratory ruled out (cholera). The
hospital director, Khaled Ahmed Awad Sobeihi, said that the last case
(in Marib) was 30 years ago.
The correspondent for Marib Press states that the epidemic resulted
from bacterial contamination of water. He pointed out that despite the
closure of wells and workshops (and the use of) chlorine in water
wells, the epidemic is still on the rise.
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