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Respiratory Illnesses Common in U.S. Troop Deployment?

Aired August 05, 2003 - 13:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well are respiratory illnesses or pneumonia common in U.S. troop deployment? CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to discuss about this medical mystery -- or not a medical mystery?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well probably not. I mean everyone's taking pains to remind people these numbers really aren't out of whack with what they've seen before with regards to pneumonia in soldiers.

In fact, since 1998 there have been 17 deaths from pneumonia of U.S. soldiers. So that's 17 over the last five years. that's more than three a year, two so far this year.

No one's downplaying those two deaths, certainly. But what they don't know yet is what exactly caused this sort of thing. Pneumonia typically is caused by a bacteria -- a bacterial infection that becomes overwhelming and gets into the lungs. Certainly, it is a bit unusual for someone to die, especially a young person to die from this.

But again, all these officials taking pains to say this is pneumonia, it does not look like it is SARS, anthrax or smallpox, nor its it botulism, nor does it appear that anyone was exposed to any toxins. So, it might be a little bit of people just making -- covering all their base, dotting their "I"s, crossing their "T"s. But probably not anything they can tell as of yet.

PHILLIPS: Now you've covered the war. What is it about the environment and also fatigue? So many of us get pneumonia when we just -- our body just breaks down from not sleeping, not eating right.

GUPTA: That's right. Everyone has experienced that to some extent. Now multiply that literally times a hundredfold.

And one thing out there that really, really struck me was the sandstorms. And again, the officials out there taking pains to remind people that the sand could be a potential cause of these pneumonias as well, not always just the bacteria.

That's actually a shot of me out there the sand just blowing all around. And that wasn't even as bad as it normally gets. But that' just an example of the sand blowing around.

Also, just being tired, having your immune system a little weakened from all this, getting just a couple hours sleep a night. A normally healthy 20, 25-year-old person might suddenly become more susceptible to something that they otherwise might have been able to combat here if they were under normal conditions.

So that's a good point as well, Kyra. The conditions out there can certainly make this make this a lot worse.

PHILLIPS: So is this another Gulf War Syndrome or is that going a little too far?

GUPTA: I think that's probably going too far. The Gulf War, again, the syndrome affecting 100,000, if not more, people over the last 12 years now, since '91. We're talking about 100 people here. Again, the numbers really not out of line with what they've seen before.

What the officials have said is that 9 people out of 10,000 getting pneumonia out there in the desert is not unusual. That sort of fits these numbers exactly right if you do the math. So I don't think we're looking at another Gulf War Syndrome. It's certainly something to keep an eye on and we'll almost certainly do that.

PHILLIPS: So when you were out there, kind of take our viewers back. We saw a little bit of the video there. But were people getting sick? Or what was the common illness at that time? Or did it just not hit yet because things weren't really moving full force yet?

GUPTA: It's a really good question. And one of the things that really struck people out there was the exposure to the elements, including simple things like dehydration and just getting that sand into your sinuses and down into your bronchials, you know, right before your lungs. People got really sick from that, just didn't feel well at all when they were experiencing that sort of thing.

And that's one of the things that the officials today during a press briefing are making a mention of, what can we tell people out there to try and protect themselves? Make sure to stay as well hydrated as possible, make sure to wear the masks and the goggles and things like that to prevent that dust from really getting down into the body because that could be a cause of pneumonia.

Again, people typically think of pneumonia being caused by bacteria, viruses. But you saw those pictures. Those elements out there can be totally different picture. That dust alone could possibly be a noninfectious cause of pneumonia.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: All right, good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 5, 2003 - 13:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well are respiratory illnesses or pneumonia common in U.S. troop deployment? CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to discuss about this medical mystery -- or not a medical mystery?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well probably not. I mean everyone's taking pains to remind people these numbers really aren't out of whack with what they've seen before with regards to pneumonia in soldiers.

In fact, since 1998 there have been 17 deaths from pneumonia of U.S. soldiers. So that's 17 over the last five years. that's more than three a year, two so far this year.

No one's downplaying those two deaths, certainly. But what they don't know yet is what exactly caused this sort of thing. Pneumonia typically is caused by a bacteria -- a bacterial infection that becomes overwhelming and gets into the lungs. Certainly, it is a bit unusual for someone to die, especially a young person to die from this.

But again, all these officials taking pains to say this is pneumonia, it does not look like it is SARS, anthrax or smallpox, nor its it botulism, nor does it appear that anyone was exposed to any toxins. So, it might be a little bit of people just making -- covering all their base, dotting their "I"s, crossing their "T"s. But probably not anything they can tell as of yet.

PHILLIPS: Now you've covered the war. What is it about the environment and also fatigue? So many of us get pneumonia when we just -- our body just breaks down from not sleeping, not eating right.

GUPTA: That's right. Everyone has experienced that to some extent. Now multiply that literally times a hundredfold.

And one thing out there that really, really struck me was the sandstorms. And again, the officials out there taking pains to remind people that the sand could be a potential cause of these pneumonias as well, not always just the bacteria.

That's actually a shot of me out there the sand just blowing all around. And that wasn't even as bad as it normally gets. But that' just an example of the sand blowing around.

Also, just being tired, having your immune system a little weakened from all this, getting just a couple hours sleep a night. A normally healthy 20, 25-year-old person might suddenly become more susceptible to something that they otherwise might have been able to combat here if they were under normal conditions.

So that's a good point as well, Kyra. The conditions out there can certainly make this make this a lot worse.

PHILLIPS: So is this another Gulf War Syndrome or is that going a little too far?

GUPTA: I think that's probably going too far. The Gulf War, again, the syndrome affecting 100,000, if not more, people over the last 12 years now, since '91. We're talking about 100 people here. Again, the numbers really not out of line with what they've seen before.

What the officials have said is that 9 people out of 10,000 getting pneumonia out there in the desert is not unusual. That sort of fits these numbers exactly right if you do the math. So I don't think we're looking at another Gulf War Syndrome. It's certainly something to keep an eye on and we'll almost certainly do that.

PHILLIPS: So when you were out there, kind of take our viewers back. We saw a little bit of the video there. But were people getting sick? Or what was the common illness at that time? Or did it just not hit yet because things weren't really moving full force yet?

GUPTA: It's a really good question. And one of the things that really struck people out there was the exposure to the elements, including simple things like dehydration and just getting that sand into your sinuses and down into your bronchials, you know, right before your lungs. People got really sick from that, just didn't feel well at all when they were experiencing that sort of thing.

And that's one of the things that the officials today during a press briefing are making a mention of, what can we tell people out there to try and protect themselves? Make sure to stay as well hydrated as possible, make sure to wear the masks and the goggles and things like that to prevent that dust from really getting down into the body because that could be a cause of pneumonia.

Again, people typically think of pneumonia being caused by bacteria, viruses. But you saw those pictures. Those elements out there can be totally different picture. That dust alone could possibly be a noninfectious cause of pneumonia.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: All right, good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com