SUMMARY OF OUTPATIENT MORBIDITY SURVEILLANCE

File: 110596_sep96_decls16_0002.txt
Page: 0002
Total Pages: 4

Subject: SUMMARY OF OUTPATIENT MORBIDITY SURVEILLANCE                    

Unit: OTSG        

Parent Organization: HSC         

Box ID: BX003204

Folder Title: OPERATION DESERT SHIELD DESERT STORM MEDICAL DATA                                               

Document Number:          3

Folder SEQ  #:          2










                 4. The reporting during the period September through December
                 1990 included the XVIII Airborne Corps and non-XVIII ABC units.
                 It was basically theater-wide surveillance. Starting at the
                 beginning of January the reporting was limited to the XVIII
                 Airborne Corps.

                 5. The   follOW4 ng trends are of special significance and
                 interest:


                      a. There was an initial surge in diarrheal illness rates In
                 October which held steady in November and December and then had a
                 big drop in January.

                      b. Respiratory disease rates showed a steady increase until
                 they peaked in December with a big drop in January.

                      c. Heat injury rates dropped off in November. This is
                 probably due to the change in temperatures. Overall, rates for
                 beat injuries were consistently very low even in the hot months.

                      d. Sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates showed a large
                 surge in December. This can partially be explained by the
                 arrival of large numbers of additional soldiers and increased
                 friendliness during the holiday season..

                      e. Over the entire six month time period illnesses of
                 special interest showed one case of leishmaniasis, one case of
                 viral meningitis, one helminthic infection, nine cases of viral
                 hepatitis (evenly spread out in November through December), and
                 102 outpatient visits for pregnancy. Pregnancy visits had two
                 major peaks with 58 visits for pregnancy in December and 18 in
                 early February.

                      f. The large number of outpatient visits for eye conditions
                 is partially explained in that outpatient visits for optical.
on often got put into this category. What percentage of
                 the total visits for eye conditions these refractions represent
                 is unknown.


                      g. The "all other" category represented 24% of all out-
                 patient visits. So 76% of visits are accounted for in the twelve
                 major disease categories.

                 6. The specific pattern for each disease category will be
                 discussed later, but every category showed a dramatic drop in
                 January. Even with increasing the rates to compensate for the
                 lack of reporting this pattern holds (although not as
                 dramatically). It is a well known phenomenon that sick call
                 visits tend to fall dramatically when a unit deploys to the field
                 (as in an FTX). Soldiers in a garrison mode often focus on
                 physical problems and get them investigated; whereas, in the
                 field environment soldiers are busy and mentally engaged. They
                 tend to ignore symptoms of a non-major variety. In January most
                 XVIII Airborne Corps units deployed forward to potential. combat

Document 4 f:/Week-36/BX003204/OPERATION DESERT SHIELD DESERT STORM MEDICAL DATA/summary of outpatient morbidity surveillance:11049609101617
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-36
Box ID = BX003204
Unit = OTSG
Parent Organization = HSC
Folder Title = OPERATION DESERT SHIELD DESERT STORM MEDICAL DATA
Folder Seq # = 2
Subject = SUMMARY OF OUTPATIENT MORBIDITY SURVEILLANCE
Document Seq # = 3
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 04-NOV-1996