By Jon Dougherty
World Net Daily
At least a
half-dozen Marines in one aviation firefighting unit at Marine
Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Craven County, N.C., have tested
positive for tuberculosis, WorldNetDaily has learned, but so far,
commanders say no quarantines are planned or warranted.
Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Stuart Fugler, media relations officer
at Cherry Point, downplayed charges made to WND by inside sources
that an "outbreak" of the disease was sweeping over aviation units
located at the base.
"It's not a tuberculosis outbreak, and it only involves one unit,"
Fugler said, refuting allegations that up to 16 Marines may be
affected in two separate units.
"The unit affected is Crash, Fire and Rescue -- firefighters that
handle air crash fires," Fugler said, noting that six Marines
had "popped positive" on recent TB skin, or PPD, tests.
The spokesman said the Marines' families would be screened for
TB, "as will all 106 of the other [unit] members." He said currently
about 75 of the unit members had been screened, and that the remainder
should be screened by today.
Fugler said two Marines tested positive in December, followed
by four others during a "shot fair" and medical check Jan. 22
and 24. He could not confirm whether all Marines on base had tested
negative for TB six months ago, as one source told WND.
Fugler added that officials "will be doing an epidemiological
survey of the quarters and" the housing areas "where the emergency
action workers share berthing" for 24-hour shifts to determine
the cause of the uptick in positive TB tests. Local Navy hospital
officials will assist in this effort, he added.
Asked whether those who tested positive would be separated from
other personnel, Fugler said "quarantines will not be in effect"
because the number of personnel afflicted doesn't meet minimum
standards.
"There has to be so much of a percentage of an official outbreak
É before [commanders] would do anything like that," he said, adding
that "the preventative medicine department at our naval hospital
here" would make that decision "if a pattern developed" or more
personnel tested positive.
One source said the office of Brig. Gen. Timothy F. Ghormley,
the Marine Corps' inspector general, had been notified to look
into the TB incident.
"They told me investigators would be sent out," the source said.
However, a spokesman in the IG's office would not confirm that
report, and instead routed WND back to Cherry Point.
"Those kinds of things are handled locally," said the spokesman,
who did not identify himself.
Sources also said the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta had
been contacted. A spokesman for that agency confirmed that they
had been notified, but said North Carolina health department officials
would take the lead in investigating the incident and that the
CDC would support that investigation as needed.
CDC officials said they were "looking into the allegations."
According to published information by the CDC, tuberculosis is
"caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis."
"The bacteria can attack any part of your body, but they usually
attack the lungs. TB disease was once the leading cause of death
in the United States," said the CDC.
The infection can be active or inactive, said the CDC. Active
disease is spread "through the air" from one person to another.
The bacteria are put into the air when a person infected in the
lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. People nearby may breathe in
these bacteria and become infected.
"When a person breathes in TB bacteria, the bacteria can settle
in the lungs and begin to grow. From there, they move through
the blood to other parts of the body, such as the kidney, spine
and brain," said the CDC.
"TB in the lungs or throat can be infectious. This means that
the bacteria can be spread to other people. TB in other parts
of the body, such as the kidney or spine, is usually not infectious,"
the CDC added. "People with TB disease are most likely to spread
it to people they spend time with every day. This includes family
members, friends and co-workers."
A public health assessment issued by the CDC and Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry placed MCAS Cherry Point on the
Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List Dec.
16, 1994, because of reports of "groundwater contamination."
"Past waste disposal and storage practices" at the base "have
resulted in environmental contamination at multiple sites," the
report said, but eventually the base was cleared because federal
health officials concluded that groundwater contamination was
not a problem for inhabitants.
Also, medical experts who spoke to WND said "other bacteria --
perhaps E-coli" or something similar could exist under such conditions,
but not TB, "because it is primarily a lung-airborne contaminant"
and moves from person to person through respiratory contact.
Cherry Point is the 11,485-acre home to the 2nd Marine Aircraft
Wing. The wing consists of six groups: four aircraft groups, flying
all combat aircraft in the Marine inventory, one aircraft control
group and one engineer group, officials said.
Construction of the base, which is currently under the command
of Maj. Gen. Thomas A. Braaten, began just 17 days before the
Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. It is the
largest Marine Corps air station in the world.
In an unrelated story involving a separate 2nd Marine Aircraft
Wing unit: The Marine Tilt-Rotor Training Squadron 204, which
flies the still-experimental MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft and is based
at MCAS New River, N.C., is embroiled in a scandal over allegations
that the squadron's former commander, Lt. Col. O. Fred Leberman,
encouraged the forgery of maintenance records on the aircraft
in order to make it look more attractive to the Marine officials.
The charges were contained in an anonymous Jan. 12 letter and
audio tape sent to the secretary of the Navy. Initially, the Marine
Corps IG office was looking into the charges, but Commandant of
the Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones has since asked the Defense
Department's IG to investigate in order to maintain the appearance
of impartiality.
The Marine Corps is anxious to buy the MV-22 -- an aircraft with
two large wing propellers that allow it to take off and land like
a helicopter but fly like a plane -- to replace aging helicopter
fleets.
The allegations came on the heels of a pair of crashes involving
Osprey aircraft -- one last April in Arizona and another last
December in North Carolina -- that killed 23 Marines.
|
