Military reports 83 Malaria infections in ’08

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Military reports 83 Malaria infections in ’08
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, February 16, 2009

More than 80 U.S. military personnel contracted malaria last year despite all the medications and precautions made available to the forces, according to a recent Pentagon study.

Complacency seems to be the main reason, said Dr. (Col.) Peter Weina, a board-certified infectious diseases physician and chairman of the Defense Department’s severe malaria program.

"Unfortunately, we are all human and all fallible, and as such, we don’t either take our meds on schedule — or at all — and we are horrible at doing personal protective measures," said Weina, who has worked with malaria since 1977. "We have to be right 100 percent of the time; the mosquito — or malaria parasite — only has to be right once.

"Every U.S. troop believes they are John Wayne and indestructible. … None believe that a little mosquito will take them down when they are facing Taliban, roadside bombs and bullets every day. So they forget or ignore the advice of the docs and get malaria," Weina said.

In 2008, 83 troops were diagnosed or reported to have malaria, according to a review in the January edition of the Defense Department’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report. More than two-thirds were caused by infections likely acquired in Afghanistan, it stated.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60753