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File: 970207_aadch_004.txt
reinspected and disapproved by the US Army. Units should have
reported these Army food establishment inspection problems to
CENTAF for resolution. Locally listed establishments approved by
EH personnel did not require Army Veterinary Service inspection.
5. Site Selection: Additional efforts need to be exerted to
ensure medical concerns are considered in site selection. One
ATH, located beside water storage tanks, was evacuated on at
least two occasions because of a chlorine leak. Another ATH, in
a flood zone, flooded. It is understood that security or other
conce.ns may override medical recommendations.
6. Food Safety: Foodborne illness was the most significant
public health problem for deployed air force personnel. Most
foodborne illness outbreaks would have been avoided if the USAF
had its own deployable food service. TAC/SG should work with
TAC/DE to make this happen. EH should inspect food and food
service facilities during OREs and ORIs. This would provide
necessary training for EH and demonstrate their mission to
supervisors and commanders. It will also demonstrate the need
for a government vehicle. Inadequate transportation was a common
problem for EH and BEE. In some cases foodborne illness
outbreaks were not followed by good reports. CENTAF/SGPM should
have requested more complete reports when incomplete information
was received. Some facilities didn't use ratings or route
reports through the chain of command as they should have.
Procedures that worked during peacetime and on previous
deployments should not have been abandoned. Foodhandler training
would have been difficult, but EH should have exerted more effort
to train foodhandlers.
7. Disease Reporting and Epidemiology: A very good disease
reporting system was established after the deployment began,
although not without difficulty. At least two changes were made
to the reporting system during the deployment. It would be
better to have the reporting system ready for use before a
deployment. Lt Col Weiland will draft minor changes to this
system to eliminate grouping conditions into a single category
and reduce the number of non-communicable diseases reported. It
was proposed that this program be presented to the preventive
medicine officer of CENTCOM, SOCOM, and others as the system for
future conflicts. It was difficult to investigate foodborne
illness outbreaks without menus from food service facilities. An
attempt should be made to require food service facilities to
maintain menus.
8. Communicable Disease Issues: Services provided by the
ATH laboratory were too limited. The laboratory needs a
microbiology incubator and appropriate media to identify fecal
pathogens such as Shigella, Salmonella, and Campylobacter. The
laboratory also needs to be able to do fecals for ova and
parasites. They need a micrometer for their microscope to be
able to measure the size of ova and parasites. The high level of
resoiratory disease was expected and no recommendations were
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