Only worth one day of coverage:
"Disfiguring disease infecting tens of thousands of Afghans" by Associated Press | October 16, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — An outbreak of a tropical disease caused by sand fly bites that leaves disfiguring skin sores has hit Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of people infected, health officials said yesterday.
Cutaneous leishmanisis is a parasitic disease transmitted by the female phlebotomine sand fly — an insect 2 to 3 millimeters long that requires the blood of humans or animals so its eggs can develop. Treatable with medication and not life-threatening, cutaneous leishmanisis can leave severe scars on victims’ bodies.
The disease threatens 13 million people in Afghanistan, the World Health Organization said, and many impoverished victims can’t afford the medication to treat it.
In Kabul — described by the WHO as “the world capital of cutaneous leishmaniasis’’ — the number of cases jumped from an estimated 17,000 a year in the early 2000s to 65,000 in 2009, WHO said.
They CAME with the U.S. INVASION, huh?
Most victims are women and children.
WHO said women and children are more vulnerable because they mostly live indoors at night, where the sand flies prefer to bite, and men are generally outside the home.
Out doing terrorist operations, right?
Who believes WHO anymore anyway after the swine flu swindle?
Peter Graaff, WHO representative to Afghanistan, said yesterday that the stigma and shame attached to the disfiguring disease results in underreporting, and the number of infected people is probably much higher.
“This number is likely to be the tip of the iceberg as cases are grossly underreported,’’ said Graaff.
An outbreak has occurred in a small village in western Herat Province’s Kohsan district with 63 people infected since August, Graaff said. The cause of the outbreak was unknown and a WHO team has been dispatched to investigate, he said.
The sand flies proliferate from June to September. They thrive in unsanitary conditions such as piles of garbage and debris.
This is "liberated" Afghanistan?
--more--"
MARJAH, Afghanistan — At many bases, Marines sleep outside on cots inside hot-dog shaped mosquito nets. There are no toilets and no showers. Troops bathe with water warmed by the afternoon sun. Fleas are such a problem, many Marines have taken to wearing flea collars made for cats or dogs around their wrists and belts.
“It’s definitely a culture shock,’’ Lance Corporal Benjamin Long, 21, of Trussville, Ala., said of life for incoming Marines. “Some people come here and they think we’re living like cavemen.’’
*********
Lance Corporal Matthew Gallant, 21, of Cape Cod, was in a convoy that hit two roadside bombs in 24 hours, one of which was the biggest blast his unit has seen. That explosion broke his ankle, ripped the driver’s leg apart, and severely wounded his truck’s gunner, who was hurled into the road.
“It’s not fun,’’ Gallant said of driving on Marjah’s roads. “It’s waiting to get blown up again for the most part.’’
Yes, the SWEET SOUND of PROGRESS and VICTORY!
Lance Corporal Patrick Cassidy, 23, Stroudsburg, Pa., remembers bullet rounds kicking up dust 6 inches from his head during a morning firefight — after he had already hit the ground to take cover at the start of an ambush. “I signed up for it,’’ he said. “I knew what I was getting into.’’
Then I will stop hollering for you to come home.
Time to go cruisin' yet?
--more--"
