Sick Brits in Afghanistan Quarantined

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Reuters via Yahoo -  Wed May 15, 8:23 PM ET 

Eighteen British Soldiers Ill in Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Eighteen British medical
personnel serving with a field hospital in Afghanistan (news - web
sites) have been taken ill with an unidentified disease, the
commander of the British forces said Wednesday.

Two of the most seriously ill have been flown out of Afghanistan, one
to Britain and the other to an American hospital in Germany,
Brigadier Roger Lane told reporters.

Lane said the illness, which surfaced three days ago with bouts of
vomiting and diarrhea, appeared contagious. As a result, all 350
personnel working at 34 field hospital have been quarantined.

The field hospital is located at Bagram, the headquarters of the
U.S.-led coalition now seeking to wipe out remnants of the al Qaeda
and Taliban in the Afghan countryside.

"We believe it is some kind of enteric fever, but we are yet to
establish that," Lane said.

"It has feverish symptoms, some of which have been described a bit
like meningitis, but we believe that not to be the case," he said,
adding that tests were still continuing to identify the disease.

Britain has some 1,700 Royal Marines in Afghanistan. None of the
other coalition troops, including from the United States and Canada,
have reported any illness.

 
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nytmid-05.15.02-22:25:28-21789