Coming Home [September 17, 2004]

The investigators in this week’s episode are confronted with a group of soldiers who may have been exposed to chemical agents or bioterrorism agents.

In their research, the team looks into possible contamination from a number of agents used historically in biological and chemical warfare, including sarin, mustard gas, botulism, and anthrax.

Issues surrounding inoculation and vaccine safety are also discussed. For more information on vaccine safety, check out the sites from the CDC’s National Immunization Program:

• Vaccine Safety and Adverse Event Reports
• Vaccine Safety Research
• Vaccine Side Effects

When patients in a nursing home also become ill, one team member questions the sanitation of these facilities. The following websites offer more information on nursing home and healthcare setting practices as well as information on aging:

• Nursing Home Care
• Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings
• Guidelines for Infection Control in Health Care Personnel, 1998
• Aging

The team begins to look beyond the initial indication of biological warfare. They solve the mystery by analyzing the commonalities between the patients and making the connection to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) as a possible cause of Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS).

For more information on ARDS and Hantavirus, check out this MMWR article:

Emerging Infectious Diseases Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome -- Virginia, 1993

For additional information about hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), visit the following links:

• Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome: What you need to know
• Preventing hantavirus: Seal Up, Trap Up, Clean Up
• How is hantavirus transmitted?