Operations DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM - Environmental Health Experience

File: 970207_aadch_012.txt
Page: 012
Total Pages: 46

            4. The USCINCCENT and USCENTAF preventive medicine
       guidelines for deployment of USAF personnel under Operation
       DESERT SHIELD included the reauirement to receive immune serum
       globulin for prevention of Hepatitis A. We believe most USAF
       people did receive this.
      
       III. FOOD SERVICE OPERATIONS AND FOOD SOURCES.
      
            1. Much of the food and a small army of food service workers
       were provided to USCENTAF bases by the host nation at no cost to
       the Air Force. The source of this food ranged from high-tech
       food processing plants to small local bakeries. Some food was
       imported from other countries and continents and other foods were
       locally produced and processed. Air Force commanders generally
       lacked the authority to select from the available food suppliers.
       This was determined by host nation authorities. Similarly, Air
       Force commanders had no real authority over local national foo'd
       service workers and were not directly able to influence their
       performance or restrict those suspected of harboring common
       foodborne enteric pathogens from working with food .
      
           2. In some cases, a clear variance existed between local and
      U.S. sanitary standards. Sanitation standards in local
      commercial food processing factlities ranged from state-of-the-
      art to primitive. The knowledge of local national and third
      country nationals of food safety also varied widely. Some were
      well versed in foodborne illness prevention. However, others
      seemed to be unaware of the most basic concepts of personal
      hygiene. For example an inspector reported that a local food
      service worker he observed squatting in a sunply tent had
      urinated against some boxes of corn.
      
            3. Communication with local food service workers was
      extremely difficult. Many nationalities were represented in this
      workforce, including people from the countries of the Arabian
      Peninsula, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Reportedly,
      few of them spoke English and we are aware of no EH personnel
      that spoke any of these languages. However, some local national
      food service supervisors did speak English and could serve as
      translators.
      
            4. Local national health standards for food service workers
      were not known for every country in which USCENTAF operated. At
      some bases, EH was able to influence authorities to collect stool
      specimens of local and third country national focd service
      workers. At one base, 13 of 25 specimens contained Giardia and
      Histolytica cysts and hook, round and whiowo-m ova, indicating
      significant intestinal parasite infections in this soup. At
      another base, only roundworms were identified. To our knowledge,
      most bases did not pursue such testing and or those that did, no
      bacteriological evaluation was included. The health status of
      most local food service workers was never determined.
      
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