| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Brit troops in Kabul may have typhoid |
| 2002-05-16 |
| Eighteen army medical staff serving in Afghanistan have been struck down by a mysterious illness that has forced British troops to close down their field hospital at the Bagram airbase outside Kabul. Two soldiers, described as "very seriously ill", were evacuated for treatment. One has returned to Britain and the other is recovering at a US military hospital in Germany. The remainder, who are all suffering from diarrhoea, vomiting and fever, which are classic symptoms of typhoid fever, are being kept in quarantine until the illness can be identified and treated. The Army’s 34 Field Hospital has been closed to all but similar cases to stop the contagious disease spreading among the thousands of British and allied troops stationed at the former Soviet airbase. Virtually eradicated in the West, typhoid is still found in less developed countries where they have more important things to do than worry about disease control. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |