Because of the hospital's sophisticated laboratory, Schoonover said, doctors usually can diagnose a malaria case within just a few hours of testing the patient, and the affected soldiers generally have returned to duty within two days. Other pesky creatures here are not quite as dangerous as mosquitoes, presenting more of a nuisance than a threat. Usually, he said, the soldiers find the creatures inside their boots in the morning, leading to an irritating bite similar to a common bee sting. The Somalia fly belongs to the same family as the common American housefly. But the local variation has a high potential for transferring disease to humans because of its tendency to hover around the human mouth and face, near the mucous membranes.
Rats tend to congregate in areas where food is stored and where humans sleep, in search of scraps.
A more dangerous pest is the snake, of which Somalia is believed to have at least eight poisonous varieties. Several American soldiers have reported snake sightings, but so far there has been only one known mishap. A GI was brought to the hospital after a spitting cobra shot its venom into the soldier's eyes. The venom can permanently damage the eye's cornea, but alert U.S. medics taped down the victim's eyelids and started continuous irrigation, saving the soldier's sight. Somalia also is home to potentially dangerous scorpions, as well as sea urchins and even Indian Ocean sharks that take an occasional swim at the nearby beach, which is off-limits for most of the troops.