No vaccine for virus killing recruits
By Michael J. Berens
THE SEATTLE TIMES
SEATTLE - More than three decades ago, the
Pentagon created two pills to ward off a lethal virus infecting boot-camp
recruits.
But defense officials abandoned the program in 1996 as too
expensive. Now recruits are dying, thousands are falling ill, and
the military is desperately racing to bring back a vaccine it once owned.
The respiratory
virus now infects up to 2,500 service members monthly - a
staggering 1 in 10 recruits - in the nation's eight basic-training centers, an
analysis of military health-care records shows.
Since the oral vaccinations stopped, the
flulike germ,
adenovirus, is
associated with the deaths of at least six recruits, four within the past year,
according to military records and internal reports obtained by The Seattle
Times.
In addition, hundreds of bedridden recruits
miss critical training and have to be sent through boot camp again, at a cost of
millions of dollars each year. Some are dismissed permanently with medical
disabilities.
The virus is expected to kill an additional
six to 10 recruits before a vaccine is again available, according to a
classified Defense Department briefing this year.
The virus can strike beyond military
boundaries as well.
Six children of service members in the Puget
Sound area were diagnosed with the virus last winter, according to doctors at
Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma, Wash.
Most people rebound from the infection within
four days, but if untreated, it can quickly turn ferocious, with fever, sore
throat and labored breathing leading to severe respiratory problems such as
pneumonia and even death.
Adenovirus spreads by cough or touch, thrives
in confined places such as overcrowded barracks, and targets those with weakened
immune systems. Overstressed recruits, trying to get in shape and adapt to the
military, turn out to be ideal incubators for the virus.
Nationally, the virus has killed more than two
dozen civilian children and adults in outbreaks in medical facilities in
Illinois, Louisiana, Iowa, Tennessee and New York, the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Military
foot-dragging and high turnover of procurement officers have caused the
replacement vaccine to fall behind schedule, making pills unavailable until at
least 2007, possibly 2009, military health-care records
show.
Dr. Margaret Ryan, a commander at the Naval
Health Research Center in San Diego and an expert on the virus, calls the
vaccine lapse "indefensible."
Original vaccine manufacturer Wyeth
Laboratories warned as early as 1984 that it would stop churning out pills
costing $1 each unless defense officials allocated $5 million to repair a
deteriorating production plant.
Wyeth executives shuttered the facility in
1996. A military health budget later gave a reason: "suppression of program to
pay higher priority items."
The Pentagon's unwillingness to spend $5
million on health care is now costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to
remedy.
In September 2001, plagued by boot-camp
outbreaks, defense officials finally agreed to spend $35.4 million to develop a
new vaccine through Barr Laboratories of Forest, Va.
Shortly afterward, Assistant Secretary of
Defense William Winkenwerder Jr. ordered vaccine efforts accelerated, according
to transcripts of a Feb. 19, 2002, meeting at North Island Naval Air Station in
San Diego.
"This is one of the most disappointing facts
and stories that I've learned upon coming into my position," he said. "I don't
want to cast aspersions on anybody who had responsibility in the past, but to be
blunt
this is a major
screw-up."
All content copyright © 1999-2004 AzStarNet,
Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers and may not be
republished without permission. All rights reserved. Any copying,
redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without
the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet is prohibited.
imp.gif?client=ca-knightridder_az_455x150&event=noscript