New AP Article, Fort Chaffee again

[Cpuppergo]

c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration warned
National Guard members who trained at Fort Chaffee, Ark., this
spring to immediately notify any blood bank where they donated
blood within four weeks of leaving the military base.
Those blood banks need to know that the Guard members may have
been exposed to tick-borne illnesses that already have prompted a
recall of blood products from six states, the FDA said.
Any blood bank notified of such a donation should retrieve the
affected products and notify government health officials.
Officials say there is no proof that the tick-borne diseases
erhlichiosis or Rocky Mountain spotted fever are spread through
blood, but reservists training at Fort Chaffee from April through
June were exposed to such ticks.
Blood was recalled last month from six states - Alabama,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas - after
several Iowa military reservists donated blood at the Arkansas base
and then came down with symptoms of erhlichiosis.
But the government has since learned that four other Guardsmen
donated blood upon their return to Iowa. While those donors are not
thought to be sick, exposure to the ticks means they might carry
one of the diseases, the FDA said.
AP-NY-07-18-97 1915EDT
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