Army official: Four soldiers have become ill and evacuated from Haiti

By Jonathan Mattise
Posted February 24, 2010 at 3:03 p.m. , updated February 24, 2010 at 4:08 p.m

Four Army soldiers total — including Stuart native Chris Lust — have been stricken ill and evacuated to receive treatment while serving in Haiti, an Army official said Wednesday.

Lust, a 33-year-old warrant officer, contracted a tropical disease called leptospirosis during relief work in Port-au-Prince three weeks ago. The bacterial infection is generally caused by contact with water contaminated by animal excrement in impoverished countries, said Dr. Moti Ramgopal of Associates in Infectious Diseases in Fort Pierce.

Lust is now in stable condition at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa after spending almost a week in the intensive care unit.

The soldier experienced flu symptoms, only 100 times worse, his mother Lorilei Lust said. Chris Lust’s temperature hovered from 102 to 105 degrees.

Cold spell tremors, almost like seizures, struck regularly. While receiving IV medication, he developed a blood clot in his left arm that puffed up his left hand much larger than his right.

His condition stabilized and he left the ICU Saturday. He expects to be shipped to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio in the next 24 hours for three months of light duty.

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