Medical Aspects of Operation Desert Storm
Abstract
In the Special Report by Gasser et al. concerning the threat of infectious diseases associated with Americans returning from the Persian Gulf (March 21 issue), a number of febrile systemic illnesses were considered. Early in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the U.S. Navy Forward Laboratory was established at a U.S. Marine Corps surgical support facility in Saudi Arabia as a theater wide reference laboratory. No evidence of incident cases of sandfly fever, Congo Crimean hemorrhagic fever, Rift Valley fever, Sindbis, Hantaan, dengue fever, typhus, or Q fever was found in military troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. However, one presumptive case of West Nile fever was diagnosed in a soldier with a four-day, self limited clinical course of acute fever, debility, and arthralgia, which resulted in hospitalization. Both during the acute phase and during convalescence, the patient's serum was positive for IgM antibody against West Nile fever virus, but it did not react with the other arboviruses tested, including dengue. During the acute phase, the serum titers of IgM and IgG were 3200 and 4800, respectively. The IgG titer had doubled in the serum during convalescence, six weeks later.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 26, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA243398
Entities
People
- Allen L Richards
- Bruce R. Merrell
- Gregory A. Dasch
- Kenneth C. Hyams
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School