"Birmingham medics face battle to help injured soldiers beat flesh-eating bug" (Birmingham Mail)
BRITISH troops returning from Afghanistan are being struck down by a dangerous flesh-eating bug that can lead to disfigurement.
Infection specialists at Heartlands Hospital have been inundated with military patients infected with the desert boils disease leishmaniasis.
All injured military are flown back to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Edgbaston, for life-saving treatment. But many soldiers have been referred to Heartlands after developing nasty, crater-like skin boils that erupt and refuse to heal. …
Dr Chris Ellis, clinical director of infection and tropical diseases at Heartlands Hospital, in Bordesley Green, said:
“The treatment isn’t simple as we have to keep giving intravenous doses of sodium stibogluconate. It takes a long time to heal. It presents itself as a skin ulcer that just won’t go away and other infections can then get on top of it. But it is not contagious… Leishmaniasis is prevalent in parts of Afghanistan and we had 50 military patients alone in 2008.” …
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