: Mystery blood clots felling U.S. troops

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> Mystery blood clots felling U.S. troops

> United Press International

> By Mark Benjamin

> Investigations Editor

> Published 10/6/2003 12:41 PM

> View printer-friendly version

>

> WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Unexplained blood clots are among the reasons

a

> number of U.S. soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom have died from sudden

> illnesses, an investigation by United Press International has found.

>

> In addition to NBC News Correspondent David Bloom, who died in April of a

> blood clot in his lung after collapsing south of Baghdad, the Pentagon has

> told families that blood clots caused two soldiers to collapse and die. At

> least eight other soldiers have also collapsed and died from what the

> military has described as non-combat-related causes.

>

> A disturbing parallel has also surfaced: soldiers becoming ill or dying

> from similar ailments in the United States. In some cases, the soldiers,

> their families and civilian doctors blame vaccines given to them by the

> military, particularly the anthrax or smallpox shots.

>

> Some of the soldiers who died suddenly had complained about symptoms

> suffered by Bloom -- including pain in the legs that could indicate

> problems with blood clots.

>

> " If there is a significant number of deaths of this type, it would make

you

> wonder what was going on, " said Rose Hobby, whose brother-in-law, Army

Spc.

> William Jeffries, died of a massive lung blood clot and swelling of his

> pancreas on March 31 after being evacuated from Kuwait.

>

> " How many others are out there? "

>

> " I would say that that number of cases among young healthy troops would

> seem to be unusual, " Dr. Jeffrey Sartin, an infectious diseases doctor at

> the Gundersen Clinic in La Crosse, Wis., said about blood clot deaths.

> Sartin, a former Air Force doctor, last spring treated a soldier who might

> have died from anthrax or smallpox side effects.

>

> " I am not aware that there were this many cases " during the first Gulf

War,

> Sartin said.

>

> The Pentagon has been investigating cases of a mysterious pneumonia that

> has killed two soldiers and put 17 more on ventilators. Besides the

> pneumonia, there do not seem to be any unexpected health trends given the

> number of troops in the region, said Army Surgeon General spokeswoman

> Virginia Stephanakis.

>

> " We are not seeing larger numbers of most illnesses than we could have

> expected, " Stephanakis said. " We have not seen any red flags. As far as I

> know, there has not been a huge red flag other than the pneumonia. "

>

> UPI's investigation found 17 soldiers who died of sudden illnesses.

> Families say they are bewildered by the deaths.

>

> " Bill just dropped. They thought he had been shot. That is how suddenly it

> happened, " said Rose Hobby, the woman whose 39-year-old brother-in-law

> William Jeffries collapsed in Kuwait.

>

> After being evacuated from Kuwait to Rota, Spain, he was in intensive care

> for a week before dying, Hobby said in a telephone interview from

> Evansville, Ind. A doctor in Spain said Jeffries had " the largest

pulmonary

> embolism he had ever seen, " Hobby said. Jeffries also had a swelling of

the

> pancreas, often caused by heavy drinking or some drugs. Jeffries was not a

> drinker, Hobby said.

>

> Jeffries was back in the United States just days before his death to

attend

> his own father's funeral. He had a scab on his arm from his recent

smallpox

> vaccination. Hobby said she does not know if he got anthrax shots also,

> like most soldiers in the region.

>

> Patrick Ivory arrived in Germany Aug. 16 to see his 26-year-old son, Army

> Spc. Craig S. Ivory, before he died. By then, Craig Ivory was already

brain

> dead from a blood clot that hit his brain on Aug. 11.

>

> " I had to make a decision to turn off life support, which was the most

> difficult thing I have ever done in my life, " Patrick Ivory said in a

> telephone interview from his home in Port Matilda, Pa.

>

> In other cases of apparently healthy soldiers who died suddenly in

> Operation Iraqi Freedom, families told UPI they have gotten few answers

> from the military. Local media reports have quoted military officials

> saying some of the deaths were apparent heart attacks; they have occurred

> from the beginning of the conflict through last week.

>

> " If anybody has a right to know what my husband died of, it is me, " said

> Lisa Ann Sherman, whose husband, Lt. Col. Anthony Sherman, suddenly

> clutched his chest and died Aug. 27 in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. " The only

> thing they (the military) had to tell me was severe myocardial

infarction, "

> or a heart attack.

>

> Anthony Sherman, 43, was a marathon runner and a triathlete.

>

> Sherman said her husband complained of pain in his legs after getting

> anthrax shots. She said she has since learned that he went to sick call

> complaining of pain in his legs on the day he died. NBC's Bloom, who also

> got the anthrax and smallpox vaccines, complained of pain in his legs,

> presumably from a blood clot that has been attributed to cramped quarters

> in his armored vehicle.

>

> " I am very suspicious about the true reason behind my husband's death, "

> Sherman said.

>

> The Pentagon said side effects from the anthrax vaccine are generally mild

> and rare.

>

> In one case, however, the military said the anthrax vaccine did cause a

> soldier's chronic blood-clot condition.

>

> Capt. Jason M. Nietupksi says he has suffered severe reactions to three

> anthrax shots given to him in the Army Reserves in February 2000, when he

> was 29 years old. Nietupski said the vaccine caused chronic fatigue, a

skin

> reaction and a blood clot condition called Deep Vein Thrombosis. Nietupski

> described intense pain in his legs caused by the clots from that

condition.

>

> Nietupski is on blood thinners for the rest of his life. His records from

> the military state his blood clot condition was caused by the anthrax

shots.

>

> " CPT Nietupski had multiple adverse medical problems associated with three

> anthrax vaccinations he received while assigned to the 8th United States

> Army, " read the results of a military line-of-duty inquiry report. " A

> condition described as Deep Vein Thrombosis, chronic fatigue and Steven

> Johnson's Syndrome all are adverse reactions that developed in this

> previously healthy individual from the anthrax vaccine. Evaluation by

> Walter Reed Physicians state (sic) that his symptoms are related to the

> anthrax vaccine. "

>

> The anthrax vaccine label warns of infrequent reports of heart attacks or

> strokes among people who have taken that vaccine. Both heart attacks and

> strokes can be caused by blood clots.

>

> With smallpox shots, top Pentagon health officials released a study in

June

> that said 37 soldiers have had a swelling of the tissue around the heart

> probably caused by the vaccine and eight other " cardiac events " occurred

> within a fortnight of getting the vaccine, including heart attacks. The

> Pentagon said they had seen no deaths that might have been caused by the

> smallpox vaccine.

>

> Civilian officials have disagreed, at least in one case.

>

> In the April 4 death of Army Spc. Rachael Lacy of Lynwood, Ill., a

civilian

> doctor who treated her and the civilian coroner who performed her autopsy

> said the smallpox and anthrax vaccines the Army gave her March 2 in

> preparation for her deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom might have

> caused her death. Lacy had pneumonia and a swelling of the tissue

> surrounding the heart, among other things.

>

> The Deputy Director of the Military Vaccine Agency, Col. John D.

> Grabenstein told UPI in August that Lacy's death has not been classified

by

> the military as related to either vaccine.

>

> " Rachael Lacy is still in the unexplained death program " at the Centers

for

> Disease Control and Prevention, Grabenstein said.

>

> After two health care workers died of heart attacks after getting smallpox

> shots, in March the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended

> that people with a risk of heart disease not take the vaccine.

> http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031006-113325-5591r

>