Gulf War Veterans Remain Sicker Than Counterparts

[Emillereid]

Oops - edited to provide link.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465839?mpid=22413&WebLogicSession=P9oDcg1dq6FTL1yD8l2lEX2ladJONpck4Hmtq1N7hC9ptYgX0GId%7C5556142915857907078/184161392/6/7001/7001/7002/7002/7001/-1


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Dec 11 - The incidence of illness and persistence of symptoms remain higher in British veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War than among veterans not deployed to that region, according to reports in the British Medical Journal for December 13th. However, their symptoms have not worsened over time, and these soldiers do not appear to be at any greater risk for cancer than their counterparts.


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Four years after the 1997 assessment, symptoms continue to be worse in the Gulf War veterans than in the other two cohorts, exhibiting what the authors call a "disappointing stability" in their poor health. Gulf veterans' responses on the Chalder fatigue scale, the general health questionnaire, the SF-36 instrument for physical health and functional capacity, and a count of physical symptoms, all reflected worse health.
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"Make no mistake: ill Gulf war veterans have a very real illness," Dr. Daniel Clauw, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, writes in an accompanying editorial.


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He cautions that the current situation in Iraq could be "almost the worst combination of Vietnam and the first Gulf war. The same types of things are happening , but above and beyond that, there is the guerilla warfare and the fact that many soldiers are being exposed to very dramatic, acutely stressful events."

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BMJ 2003;327:1357-1358,1370-1375.

Sounds like the British are taking Gulf war syndrome more seriously than us -- What the hell happened over there anyway that's causing all this illness. What distinguished the vets that went to the Gulf and those that were deployed elsewhere. I would think they would all have received vaccines -- does anyone know if they all received the same vaccines. Is it DU? Or 'chemical or biological weapons?'