Military doctors fighting fungal infections in wounded Afghan-based US troops
1,753 views · Published 16 December 2012 · 0:43 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: News Direct · 2012 · News & Politics
Military doctors treating US casualties in Afghanistan are facing a new enemy in the battle to save injured troops. A fungus that exists in the Afghan soil infects troops when they are wounded by IEDs. Such explosions often lead to amputations, but since the fungus is hard to detect, doctors tend to remove as little flesh and bone as possible to preserve as much of a limb as possible. Out of 100 troops diagnosed infected with the organism in three years, six have died. New guidelines published in November suggest doctors use a World War I-era remedy, a diluted sodium hypochlorite bleach product called Dakins, to treat the wounds and kill the fungus before it spreads.
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