'Boot Camp Flu' Claims More Victims At Lackland AFB

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Recruits at Lackland Air Force Base have continued to get sick from a mutated version of a common cold virus known as "boot camp flu" during the past three months.<br/><br/>But the number

Monday, December 3rd 2007, 6:30 am

By: News On 6

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Recruits at Lackland Air Force Base have continued to get sick from a mutated version of a common cold virus known as "boot camp flu" during the past three months.

But the number occurrences has dropped since earlier this year. Adenoviruses sickened hundreds of recruits at Lackland in the spring and summer with the most serious cases blamed on a new variant called Ad14.

Five airmen ended up in an intensive care unit, and 19-year-old Paige Villers of Norton, Ohio, died from the sickness in early August. The base said 39 airmen tested positive for adenoviruses in November, all with the Ad14 strain. That was down from 100 positive
tests in October, also with the Ad14 strain.

United States health officials say the Ad14 form has caused 10 deaths in the last 18 months.