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Special Forces GI dies of illness after Iraq visit
Munoz died last week of a staph infection, two weeks after returning from Iraq and two days after his first wedding anniversary. He was 29.
...
Munoz was set to lead a Special Forces team into Iraq to help train Iraqis to take over security of their country, necessary before the withdrawal of the American military, his wife said.
He left in January for a short scouting mission of the location where he would lead his men and returned home Jan. 28.
On Feb. 6, he went into the hospital with flulike symptoms and three days later was dead, his wife said.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=021605a1_munoz&page_number=0
Staph Cases an 'Emerging Epidemic'
...
The disease has occasionally led to severe blood and bone infections and even pneumonia. While rarely fatal, it was linked to the deaths of four children in the late 1990s.
In the past, such infections have been restricted to the sick and elderly in hospitals and nursing homes. Since 2002, however, jails in Los Angeles County and around the country have struggled to keep a lid on outbreaks among inmates.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-staph15feb15,1,177300.story?coll=la-health-medicine&ctrack=1&cset=true
The Army is investigating how an elite Special Forces detachment commander from Tucson contracted a bacterial infection and died.
"I would say within Special Forces command here, that's very rare," said Maj. Rob Gowan, a Special Forces spokesman. "In fact, I can't think of any case in recent history."
Capt. Gilbert A. Munoz, a 29-year-old native of Tucson, returned from a mission overseas on Jan. 29. Family members said he'd been in Iraq.
He felt ill Feb. 6 at his base in Fort Bragg, N.C., and sought medical treatment for flulike symptoms on Feb. 7 at Womack Army Medical Center.
His condition deteriorated with systemic organ failure. Last Wednesday he was moved to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, N.C., for kidney dialysis. He died there that day.
An autopsy disclosed he died of pneumonia stemming from an unidentified bacterial infection, Gowan said Tuesday.
Army officials said they weren't sure whether Munoz felt ill while he was on a mission known as a pre-deployment site survey. Typically, that involves three to 12 soldiers who go into an area to check it out in advance of other soldiers.
Officials would not specify where Munoz had been deployed, other than that he was in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. That includes Iraq, where a cousin said he had been deployed recently after training troops in Colombia.
"The logical conclusion is he would pick up something foreign overseas, but we don't know and we can't answer that," Gowan said.
Army officials are awaiting lab test results to determine the cause of Munoz's illness. He is believed to have received excellent medical care at both medical centers, Gowan said.
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/61596.php
Munoz was set to lead a Special Forces team into Iraq to help train Iraqis to take over security of their country, necessary before the withdrawal of the American military, his wife said.
He left in January for a short scouting mission of the location where he would lead his men and returned home Jan. 28.
On Feb. 6, he went into the hospital with flulike symptoms and three days later was dead, his wife said.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=021605a1_munoz&page_number=0
Staph Cases an 'Emerging Epidemic'
...
The disease has occasionally led to severe blood and bone infections and even pneumonia. While rarely fatal, it was linked to the deaths of four children in the late 1990s.
In the past, such infections have been restricted to the sick and elderly in hospitals and nursing homes. Since 2002, however, jails in Los Angeles County and around the country have struggled to keep a lid on outbreaks among inmates.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-staph15feb15,1,177300.story?coll=la-health-medicine&ctrack=1&cset=true
The Army is investigating how an elite Special Forces detachment commander from Tucson contracted a bacterial infection and died.
"I would say within Special Forces command here, that's very rare," said Maj. Rob Gowan, a Special Forces spokesman. "In fact, I can't think of any case in recent history."
Capt. Gilbert A. Munoz, a 29-year-old native of Tucson, returned from a mission overseas on Jan. 29. Family members said he'd been in Iraq.
He felt ill Feb. 6 at his base in Fort Bragg, N.C., and sought medical treatment for flulike symptoms on Feb. 7 at Womack Army Medical Center.
His condition deteriorated with systemic organ failure. Last Wednesday he was moved to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, N.C., for kidney dialysis. He died there that day.
An autopsy disclosed he died of pneumonia stemming from an unidentified bacterial infection, Gowan said Tuesday.
Army officials said they weren't sure whether Munoz felt ill while he was on a mission known as a pre-deployment site survey. Typically, that involves three to 12 soldiers who go into an area to check it out in advance of other soldiers.
Officials would not specify where Munoz had been deployed, other than that he was in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. That includes Iraq, where a cousin said he had been deployed recently after training troops in Colombia.
"The logical conclusion is he would pick up something foreign overseas, but we don't know and we can't answer that," Gowan said.
Army officials are awaiting lab test results to determine the cause of Munoz's illness. He is believed to have received excellent medical care at both medical centers, Gowan said.
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/61596.php
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Sgt. Clay Garton was a flight medic at Fort Bragg. He spent 16 months in Iraq and returned home in July. Then, he got sick.
His family said he had symptoms like the flu. He fought it for three weeks, but his fever soared to 106 degrees. The day after Christmas, he died.
"They came out in five minutes and said, 'He's gone,'" said Duane Garton, Clay's father.
According to a preliminary autopsy report, Garton's liver and spleen were swollen. His wife said doctors told her he died from infection.
It is the third recent example of soldiers dying after exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Capt. Gilbert Munoz was a special forces soldier at Fort Bragg who was deployed to the Middle East. After he got back, he died from a bacterial infection.
Sgt. Christopher Rogers was a reservist from Raleigh. He went to Afghanistan. After he came home, his temperature hit 109 degrees. His widow, Windy Rogers, wonders whether he had what Munoz had.
"Chris was admitted with flu-like symptoms. Whatever it was, it shut all of his organs down -- shut them all down -- and I want to know what happened," she said.
Garton's family has questions, too. His wife said while Garton was in Iraq, he treated someone exposed to depleted uranium. Garton's father wonders if that had something to do with his death.
"He went through 16 months of hell and he came back and they didn't do nothing for him," he said.
WRAL called Fort Bragg, the Department of the Army and some congressional offices. At this point, it does not appear that anyone is investigating the deaths or trying to determine if there is a common cause.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/4210227/detail.html