Gulf War illness may never be explained - scientist

	Tweet

Veterans of the Gulf War suffer more health problems than other members of the military but the causes of the mysterious array of symptoms may never be known, a leading British scientist said on Monday.

Men and women who served in the 1990-1991 war are 20 percent more likely to suffer from headaches, fatigue and pain but do not have a higher rate of cancer or heart disease.

"There is no shadow of a doubt that something has happened, something has gone wrong,” Professor Simon Wessely, of King’s College London, told a news briefing.

But the head of the Gulf War research unit at the college said the increase in ill health is unlikely to be a new disease or have a single cause.

“There are huge areas that remain unclear and I am afraid I suspect they will always remain unclear,” he added.

Multiple vaccinations, exposure to pesticides, smoke from oil-burning fires, stress and organophosphates, chemicals that have been shown to affect the human nervous system, have been cited as possible causes of the illness.

Professor Mark Peakman, an immunologist at Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’ School of Medicine in London, said the human immune system is more than capable of dealing with multiple vaccinations given in a short period of time.

Although vaccinations can cause local reactions, there is no evidence so far linking them with the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

Professor David Ray of Nottingham University doubted that exposure to dangerous chemicals in pesticides or insecticides was the culprit.

“It doesn’t look like a pattern of chemical poisoning,” Ray said.

Wessely and his colleagues spoke to journalists ahead of the release of an independent British inquiry into the illness and a day after a draft U.S. report by a group of doctors and veterans said exposure to neurotoxins explains the symptoms better than stress or psychiatric illness.

The British scientists said they could not comment on the U.S. report without seeing it.

RELATED STORIES:
Americans are sad three days a month   Preschool kids do better when they talk to themselves, research shows   Young kids trust adults despite evidence to the contrary   Stress increases alcoholism   Placebos help, even when patients know about them   Brain detects happiness more quickly than sadness   Eating berries may lower risk of Parkinson’s   Iowa’s DHS Says It Will Guard Mental Health Records   Human lie detectors almost never miss, study finds   Does a gene variant make women more prone to alcoholism?   U of T researchers find link between childhood physical abuse and heart disease   Stress boosts immunity, but only in the short term

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]