Army Task Force Reports Rise in Severity of Injuries Among Combat Wounded WASHINGTON, DC - Complex, multiple injuries on the battlefield are increasing, particularly injuries to the arms, legs and genitalia, according to a new military report. In 2009, 86 servicemembers had an amputation of which 23 had multiple limb loss. In 2010, there were 187 servicemembers who suffered a major limb amputation, of those 72 had multiple limb loss. So far this year there have been 147 who had a limb amputation. Of these, 77 troops have had multiple limb loss, they said. The largest number of troops who sustained a limb loss or a devastating lower extremity injury was “dismounted,” rather than in a vehicle. More
AFHSC Funds New Flu Diagnostic Kits for Deployed Medical Facilities Silver Spring, MD -The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC) has funded the development of two new kits recently cleared by the FDA and expects those will enhance its ability to diagnose flu in troops in theater. The Influenza A/B Detection Kit will be used to for testing Influenza A and Influenza B. The second kit will allow for the detection and differentiation of subtypes of influenza that includes A/H1, A/H3 and 2009 A/H1. More
VA Officials Could Be Held Liable For Infection Control Lapses WASHINGTON, DC - VA officials could be held legally responsible for failure to follow infection control practices, fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to a year, if a bill to be introduced by Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, becomes law. The bill is being crafted in response to the numerous instances of preventable infections that have occurred at VA facilities in recent years. One of the most egregious of these was at the Dayton VA Medical Center’s dental clinic. Between 1992 and 2010, a dentist allegedly failed to follow infection control practices, such as changing gloves and sterilizing dental equipment, putting over 500 veterans at risk for HIV and hepatitis infection. Nine veterans have been identified that may have been infected by hepatitis B or hepatitis C in the course of their treatment at the dental clinic. More
Specialty Update: HIV
Army-led Research on HIV Vaccine Could Lead to Success in a Decade Research into development of a vaccine for the HIV virus has moved so quickly in the last two years, military researchers predict that a vaccine could be available within the next decade. Not too long ago, researchers were not nearly so optimistic. In fact, “discouraged” would be a better word for the mood of the research world – that is before publication of the results of the U.S. Army-led Thai Phase III HIV vaccine clinical trial, also known as RV144. More
Major Policy Changes Allow VA to Dramatically Increase HIV Screenings VA already is the nation’s largest provider of HIV care in the nation, treating more than 24,000 veterans who have tested positive for the virus, and that number is certain to increase with a program to dramatically increase screening of veterans. That is a positive, according to Maggie Czarnogorski, MD, deputy director, Clinical Public Health Programs, Office of Public Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, because early diagnosis improves the chance of the patient living a long and healthy life and helps limit transmission to others. VA increased the total number of tests conducted by 140% from 2009 to 2010 (141,337 to 342,293), she says. More
Specialty Update: Psychiatry
Army Urgently Seeks More Substance-Abuse Counselors for Troubled Soldiers WASHINGTON, DC - With wars that have gone on for almost a decade, the Army has more soldiers with substance-abuse problems than it can handle and is trying to expedite hiring counselors to help bring the problem under control. The Army is aggressively seeking to add 130 substance-abuse counselors to its rosters by this month to address the increasing number of soldiers seeking substance-abuse treatment, officials said last month. The shortage of counselors became clear because of the increasing number of soldiers coming to Army clinics seeking substance-abuse treatment — mostly for alcohol. The additional counselors will add capacity for about 4,000 patients. More
Specialty Update: Endocrinology
Study Uses VA Telemedicine Experience to Help International Diabetes Patients WASHINGTON, DC - Receiving an Internet-based, interactive voice-response call on a mobile phone may help low-income patients in developing countries manage their diabetes, according to a new study led by a researcher with the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan. While interactive voice-response (IVR) calls may improve chronically ill patients’ outcomes, underdeveloped countries often lack the infrastructure to provide these types of services to patients. To address this infrastructure problem, a team sought to test the feasibility of an IVR program using a cloud-computing model. More
New Feature: InnoVAtions
Colorful 19th Century Drug Found Effective for Eczema at Atlanta VAMCATLANTA, GA - Gentian violet (pronounced jen-shen) is not a compound familiar to most modern medical practitioners. Developed in the middle of the 19th century, this combination of pararosanilines used as a component in dyes was eventually discovered to have antiseptic properties. But, in 2005, Jack Arbiser, MD, PhD, chief of dermatology at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, and his colleagues were looking for compounds similar to already-existing inhibitors to the NADPH oxidase family of enzymes. They found gentian violet, which blood-vessel growth and kills bacteria, and it now has become a first-line treatment for eczema at the VAMC. More
Brenda L. Mooney Editorial Director, U.S. Medicine mooney@usmedicine.com 39 York Street Lambertville, NJ 08530
Research into development of a vaccine for the HIV virus has moved so quickly in the last two years, military researchers predict that a vaccine could be available within the next decade. Not too long ago, researchers were not nearly so optimistic. In fact, “discouraged” would be a better word for the mood of the research world – that is before publication of the results of the U.S. Army-led Thai Phase III HIV vaccine clinical trial, also known as RV144. 
WASHINGTON, DC - With wars that have gone on for almost a decade, the Army has more soldiers with substance-abuse problems than it can handle and is trying to expedite hiring counselors to help bring the problem under control. The Army is aggressively seeking to add 130 substance-abuse counselors to its rosters by this month to address the increasing number of soldiers seeking substance-abuse treatment, officials said last month. The shortage of counselors became clear because of the increasing number of soldiers coming to Army clinics seeking substance-abuse treatment — mostly for alcohol. The additional counselors will add capacity for about 4,000 patients. 
WASHINGTON, DC - Receiving an Internet-based, interactive voice-response call on a mobile phone may help low-income patients in developing countries manage their diabetes, according to a new study led by a researcher with the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan. While interactive voice-response (IVR) calls may improve chronically ill patients’ outcomes, underdeveloped countries often lack the infrastructure to provide these types of services to patients. To address this infrastructure problem, a team sought to test the feasibility of an IVR program using a cloud-computing model. 