Blackwater Fever
It’s new, it’s so bad they named it after the hated American mercenaries, because it kills the innocent just like they do. Slamming Blackwater is always fun and really adds some zing to this story suggesting that an Iraqi malaria epidemic is being kept secret. Too bad these moron reporters not only don’t know their subject, they apparently don’t know how to use Google. IPS News:
FALLUJAH, Mar 26 (IPS) - Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call “Blackwater” that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq.
“This disease is a severe form of malarial infection caused by the parasite plasmodium falciparum, which is considered the worst type of malarial infection,” Dr. Ali Hakki from Fallujah told IPS. “It is one of the complications of that infection, and not the ordinary picture of the disease. Because of its frequent and severe complications, such as Blackwater fever, and its resistance to treatment, P. falciparum can cause death within 24 hours.”
What Iraqis now call Blackwater fever is really a well-known medical condition, and while it has nothing to do with Blackwater Worldwide, Iraqis in al-Anbar province have decided to make the connection between the disease and the lethal U.S.-based company which has been responsible for the death of countless Iraqis.(*)
The disease is most prevalent in Africa and Asia. The patient suffers severe intravascular haemolysis — the destruction of red blood cells leading to kidney and liver failure. It also leads to black or red urination, and hence perhaps the new name ‘Blackwater’.
Great hit on Blackwater. Unfortunately for these shoot-from-the-hip scribblers, the common name for falciparum malaria goes back to the 19th century, colonial days in Africa and Asia, when pissing black meant you were going to be dead soon. It’s a problem the Iraqis and U.S. military are going to want to get on top of quick. Anyway, the top listing in a Google search on blackwater fever dates to 1992. :
While we waited for Judith’s translation, I glanced at the patient’s clear plastic urinal. It was almost full and the urine was brown, a deep mahogany brown. Suddenly, as if it had been kicked in just the right spot, my brain’s gearbox came unstuck.
Have you ever heard the term blackwater fever? I asked Barbara.
Um, no, she answered, then gave me an expectant look.
I pointed to the urinal.
In the old days they used to call falciparum malaria–the most severe form of the disease–blackwater fever because the intense destruction of red cells it causes turns a patient’s urine black. My hunch seemed farfetched, though. Many other diseases cause dark urine, and malaria is no longer indigenous to this country. Virtually all U.S. cases– about 1,100 in 1990–are found in travelers or newly arrived immigrants. Most American doctors never even see a case. I could hardly wait to hear where this guy had been.
Judith supplied us with the answers. He’s only been in the States three weeks, not three months. He’s had fevers and headaches since he got off the plane. Went to three doctors in Chinatown who gave him pills, but none helped.
Where did he fly in from? I asked.
Thailand, said Judith
And where did he start out from?
Southern China.
But, I dimly remembered, Thailand and China had no common border. How did he get to Thailand?
He left China by crossing through Burma, came the reply. On foot. All the way. The journey took about two weeks.
Now his symptoms began to make more sense. Eastern Burma is a hotbed of malaria, especially falciparum malaria, which is resistant to chloroquine, the standard drug used to treat the disease. And the incubation period for malaria is two weeks. Had he been bitten by a malaria-carrying mosquito in the jungles of Burma, the fevers and headaches wouldn’t have started until he arrived in the United States.
* The number of Iraqis killed by Blackwater security personnel probably have not been tallied, but I don’t think that’s what these two accuracy-challenged scribblers mean when they say “countless.” Counting the Iraqi dead at the hands of U.S. forces, Iraqi forces, al-Qaeda, Shiite death squads has been problematic and given to distortion. I don’t imagine Blackwater’s total approaches that of any of those parties, but who knows.
The IPS article also suggests there’s a conspiracy out there to keep a lid on an Iraqi epidemic. Given their bias-induced inaccuracy in other aspects of this reporting, I have to wonder whether this nitwit reporters misinterpreted and distorted the nature of that situation as well.
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