Since April 1st the US Navy has reported 505 cases of H1N1 (Swine Flu) in active duty servicemen/women [pdf]. For perspective, the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard has had 502, 323, 239, and 8 cases respectively. However, more than 20% (110) of the Navy’s cases occurred on the USS Bonhomme Richard, currently at sea. Even more startling, 61 of the Bonhomme Richard’s cases happened within the last eleven days. Simply put, 12% of the Navy’s total H1N1 cases are on a single ship, on deployment, and within the last two weeks.
The Navy has so far been able to keep the USS Bonhomme Richard’s outbreak out of the news. The only mention of the outbreak is in the DoD’s July 14, 2009 Global Surveillance Summary for H1N1 [pdf] (pictured), read only by military health staff and nosy Ph.D. candidates.
While H1N1 is no more dangerous than the common flu, outbreaks of the virus have affected Naval operations in the past. After the USS Dubuque experienced at outbreak of around 20 cases of H1N1, it was scrapped as the assigned vessel for Pacific Partnership 2009, a humanitarian civic assistance mission to Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga. Mission planners scrambled and accepted an offer by the Sealift Command and the Seventh Fleet to use the USNS Richard E. Byrd. The change in vessels forced the mission to be reduced to half of the original plan. On the vessel switch, Commodore Andrew Cully said:
“Originally, we were going to have roughly 180 medical folks and several engineers, a lot more than what we’ve had. And then now we had to down-scope somewhat, and [on the USNS Richard E. Byrd] I’m carrying, roughly, 50 medical professionals, 40 engineers, and then we’ll round it out with another 20 between my core staff and partner nations and NGOs.”
Furthermore, active outbreaks can spread quickly. This week, an H1N1 outbreak amongst freshman cadets at the Air Force Academy spread to sixty-seven students within ten days of the case. The increased risk of spreading the disease in the cramped conditions of naval vessels is obvious. So, if in the next few weeks you hear reports of the USS Bonhomme Richard changing its mission due to a H1N1 outbreak: 1) do not be surprised, and 2) remember you heard it here first.
Crossposted on the USNI Blog.
Christopher Albon is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
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{ 3 comments }
Chris: There is potential for it to get much worse this fall as the military is a highly “social” activity (lots of people in small spaces) and as the H1N1 mutates…. Just completed a military course and we were packed in to an auditorium for 4 hours sitting shoulder-shoulder with each other. Guy in front of me was coughing his lung up. I asked if he was sick or just had a cough (the former), and then I asked why he wasn’t sitting off to the side (nobody thought of it–we had to be in alphabetical order to get our diplomas). After the ceremony I washed my hands about 5 times. No lie. The bigger political problem is that as we export the flu around the world with these deployments it becomes a political problem for the “host nations” since they are playing host, but the guest is bringing a disease. Who wants that? Especially if the disease mutates in to something more virulent.
Congratulations on graduating Gail! I have no idea what certificate/qualification/degree you got, but good on you!
You hit the nail on the head.
I get a decent amount of “It’s just the flu” comments from folks, especially in the military. They are right, it is just the flu right… now. However, the procedures we put in place now for the flu will be the same used in the any future outbreak of a mutated H1N1 or more virulent pathogen. To venture dangerously into a sports metaphor: H1N1 is simply the exhibition game before the start of the real challenges. We get it right now so we know what to do when it the disease is far more serious.
The political problems from disease are HUGE. H1N1 was “just the flu” but it caused a Naval operation to be 50% smaller because the original ship (USS Dubuque) had a minor outbreak and the US didn’t want to be perceived as spreading Swine Flu to our allies.
What happens to winning hearts and minds when an outbreak amongst troops in the US spreads to the Iraqi population during their deployment? Or vice versa? It has happened before, and it will happen again.
Gastric flu outbreaks are probably the most common on naval vessels. We had one on every deployment I had on the USS Kitty Hawk and every work-up I had on the USS Abraham Lincoln. The worst was in April ‘04 when we were down 15%-20% of sailors over a three day period in manpower sensitive departments/areas like the flight deck and engineering watch standers. The food service rank and file (new sailors typically assigned to three months of duty there to “season them” to the real Navy and to fill a required temporary assigned duty billet) were even more decimated, so food prep went out the window and we were eating dry meals and sipping out of soda cans.
I imagine most of the same principles devised in response to “gastro” have a utility for H1N1 or most other social bugs.
You can’t function in even a diminished state when you’re vomiting and have no control over your digestive functions. You typically have dizziness, extreme loss of breath and have trouble getting even one full REM sleep cycle. Being that’s it a 36-72 hour bug, it can have a disastrous impact on operational readiness, especially during a high-tempo period like combat flight ops or a high-visibility training exercise.
The best weight-loss plan I ever tried though… I dropped about 9 lbs after getting it (or something close to it the second time) twice in three weeks.
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