FIGURE 2.1 Southwest and South-Central Asia. The committee’s preliminary deliberations covered infectious diseases known to occur specifically in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan and in the geographic region that includes the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Iran, Qatar, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

SOURCE: The National Academies Press.

The committee approached its task by first identifying infectious diseases that could have affected US troops deployed to southwest and south-central Asia. The committee members drew upon their collective knowledge of infectious diseases, which stems from both professional experience (Appendix A) and information gathered specifically for this study. The committee acquired information from numerous sources about illnesses diagnosed in troops deployed to southwest and south-central Asia, infectious diseases known to occur in that region, and conditions of special interest to veterans. The information came from peer-reviewed journal articles, surveillance and technical reports, presentations by physicians and scientists, and veterans and representatives of veterans’ groups.