Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 21, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press monday june 21, 2004 Canada / world a5 malaria cases Spur Alert at Camp Julien by Stephen Thorne k Abul ? Canadian military doctors Are keeping a close Eye on the 2,000-plus canadians and others based at Camp Julien after diagnosing five confirmed cases of malaria in the last two weeks. Doctors fear the two american soldiers one Canadian sol Dier and two civilian workers ? a Canadian and a nepalese ? May be just the tip of the they have put out word to All who Are staying at the base to report immediately to the clinic if they develop fevers but due to the incubation period of the parasite that causes the disease it May not be known for a year just How widespread the outbreak is said capt. Michael Hughson. We Are either the smartest doctors in the world or there Are More cases out there said Hughson a Canadian army physician from Fredericton. The first cases turned up june 7 and june 8 when two . Soldiers who had both been previously based in different parts of Southern Afghanistan turned up at the base Hospital. When i saw the first american it was a diagnosis i made basically walking through the door said Hughson who has become the Camps acknowledged expert on the disease. The patient was shaking All Over. He looked like somebody that had a really extreme stagnant pools Afghanistan was not known As a particularly virulent malaria Region until after the soviet invasion of 1980, when the bombing of irrigation systems created stagnant pools All Over the country in which mosquitoes thrive. There Are four major strains of malaria and the Kabul area is known for harbouring the worst of them ? plasmodium fal Cip arum a rapid potentially fatal Strain that is mercifully More easily treatable than the others. The five patients at Camp Julien Are believed to have plasmodium Ovale or Viva recurring strains of the disease that Are not especially drug resistant and can be treated Over time Hughson said. But both the latter forms of malaria can lie dormant in the liver for months before they show themselves or cause a relapse. Doctors still Don to know if the americans brought the malaria into Camp from lower altitudes Down South or if they contracted the disease in Kabul which just experienced its wettest Spring in years. Malaria need not be fatal and contrary to popular belief is no longer necessarily a lifelong disease that comes and goes with fits of chills fever sweats nausea and aches. The parasite typically needs an ambient temperature of 20 c and an Altitude of less than 2,000 metres to survive. At 2,100 metres Kabul is right on the borderline. Treatment usually involves a three Day round of Chloro Quine a synthetic form of the quinine that British colonizers in India would drink in their Gin and tonics. That kills the parasite in the blood. But doctors also have to follow that up with a two week regimen of a Strong drug called Prim Aquin that itself can make patients sick. ? Canadian press september vote still on afghan president says Summit of nato leaders in Turkey to press Rity and logistical problems ? had reached by Amir Shah for More foreign troops to protect the vote 4.04 million. The total is rising by More than from violence and keep it free and fair. 100,000 a Day putting a in sponsored Regis Kabul Afghanistan ? president Hamid i am 100 per cent in favour of having the traction drive on track for the six million Mark Karzai insisted yesterday that violence threat elections on time Karzai told reporters at his that Karzai says would be enough. Ened National elections would go ahead in sep Kabul Palace. The process of voter registry electoral teams have come under repeated tember As the number of afghans registered Tion shows that we Are heading for attack in the South and East with two British to vote passed four million. The United nations said yesterday that the in contractors killed and several afghans fresh from a trip to the United states number of afghans signed up for the vote ? wounded. Karzai also said he will travel to a june 28-29 already delayed from june because of Secu associated press ;