15 AUGUST
Correspondence
Military “Misadventure”
To the Editor—I take great issue with
Deresinski’s [1] term “military misadventure” in his review of an article about leishmaniasis by Myles et al. [2]. The statement
is both inaccurate and inappropriate.
Elected political leaders decide when to
use force. Military leaders defer to civilians
on the choice of war. The military merely
does—arguably very successfully—what
civilians task it. Imbuing technical reviews
with political undertones or opinions reflects poorly on your journal. Furthermore, it is an affront to the military service and their family members who have
sacrificed and continue to sacrifice
enormously.
Acknowledgments
Potential conflicts of interest. E.P.L.: no
conflicts.
Emil P. Lesho
Camp Delta, Iraq
we were surprised and disappointed by his
reference to the US military mission in
Southwest Asia as “the latest military misadventure.” The mission statement of
Clinical Infectious Diseases, as stated on the
publisher’s Web site, is to publish articles
on “diverse topics in infectious diseases,
with a focus on clinical practice” [3]. Nowhere is it stated that the journal’s purpose
is to espouse political views or to deride
the Armed Forces (there are abundant appropriate forums for those endeavors). As
a matter of fact, a recent article cowritten
by one of us [4] elicited a reviewer’s request to strike the term “Global War on
Terror” from the title because of the “polarizing nature of the expression.” We urge
Clinical Infectious Diseases to be more
evenhanded in its approach to articles submitted for publication and to refrain from
irrelevant editorial comments.
Acknowledgments
Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: no
conflicts.
References
1. Deresinski S. In the literature: visceral leishmaniasis in soldiers returned from Iraq and
Afghanistan. Clin Infect Dis 2008; 46:v.
2. Myles O, Wortmann GW, Cummings JF, et al.
Visceral leishmaniasis: clinical observations in
4 US Army soldiers deployed to Afghanistan or
Iraq, 2002-2204. Arch Intern Med 2007; 167:
1899–901.
Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Emil P. Lesho, 2209 Parker
Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20902 ([email protected]).
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008; 47:587
This article is in the public domain, and no copyright is
claimed. 1058-4838/2008/4704-0024
DOI: 10.1086/590253
Let Us Keep the Medical
Literature Free of Perjorative
Language and Political Bias
To the Editor—Although we welcome
Deresinski’s [1] review of the article about
visceral leishmaniasis by Myles et al. [2],
Michael Zapor,1,2 Kyle Petersen,1,3
and Michael Rajnik1,2
Armed Forces Infectious Diseases Society, 2Walter
Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC,
and 3National Naval Medical Center,
Bethesda, Maryland
1
References
1. Deresinski S. In the literature: visceral leishmaniasis in soldiers returned from Iraq and
Afghanistan. Clin Infect Dis 2008; 46:v.
2. Myles O, Wortmann GW, Cummings JF, et al.
Visceral leishmaniasis: clinical observations in
4 US Army soldiers deployed to Afghanistan or
Iraq, 2002–2204. Arch Intern Med 2007; 167:
1899–901.
3. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Description. 2008.
Available at: http://www.journals.uchicago
.edu/page/cid/brief.html.
4. Paolino K, Erwin D, Padharia V, et al. In vitro
activity of colistin against multidrug-resistant
gram-negative bacteria isolated at a major
Army hospital during the military campaigns
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clin Infect Dis
2007; 45:140–1.
Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Michael Zapor, Walter Reed
Army Medical Center, Infectious Diseases Service, Dept. of
Medicine, 6900 Georgia Ave., Washington, DC 20307
([email protected]).
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2008; 47:587
This article is in the public domain, and no copyright is
claimed. 1058-4838/2008/4704-0025
DOI: 10.1086/590254
Reply to Lesho and
to Zapor et al.
To the Editor—My description of the
war in Iraq as a military misadventure [1]
is indisputably accurate. Lesho [2] is correct in his statement that the war is the
result of decisions made by elected political leaders, not the military, who only
carry out the orders of those political leaders. As a consequence, I am baffled by his
conclusion that my description is an affront to the military—this is clearly a nonsequitur. For the same reason, I am unable
to grasp how Zapor et al. [3] can come
to the conclusion that I was deriding the
military with my description. As a former
Battalion Surgeon stationed in Phu Tai,
Viet Nam, I am fully aware of the hardships and difficulties faced by the military
in a war zone and the fact that the decision
to create or enter a war zone is not that
of the military leadership and certainly not
that of the soldiers performing the
sacrifice.
Editor’s note. Henceforth, Clinical Infectious Diseases will refrain from publishing political comments in a scientific article, unless such comments are deemed
appropriate and necessary in the context
of the article.
Acknowledgments
Potential conflicts of interest. S.C.D.: no
conflicts.
CORRESPONDENCE • CID 2008:47 (15 August) • 587