Memorandum from Caroline Richards
Whilst ISAF was deployed in Afghanistan
last year there were several cases of Whooping cough. One officer
who came back for R&R with the "Kabul cough", which
was infact whooping cough, gave it to his newborn baby, who nearly
died. When the baby was discharged from hospital, it stopped breathing
at home a week later and had to be resuscitated by its mother
and readmitted. There were several other cases known to me personally.
These included my husband, COMARRC, who was airlifted to the French
field hospital in Kabul, on a drip & oxygen, and then was
flown back to germany by US forces to recuperate. Another senior
officer in the ISAF HQ was also very ill with whooping cough.
I am informed that the pertussis immunisation
was implicated in Gulf war syndrome, and that is the reason that
our troops are not being vaccinated. However, I am also told that
other armies do vaccinate against whooping cough and I would like
to feel that this has been properly researched with regards to
our own troops. It is a condition that is hard to diagnose but
can be very debilitating. And I would hate another family to go
through the anxiety and distress that the family above had to
endure.
14 November 2007
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