Gulf War Syndrome: Not All In their Heads

STRESS

Ten years after the Gulf War began, researchers are still trying to
sort out the causes of the mysterious Gulf War Syndrome (GWS), which
afflicts veterans with a wide army of ailments including fatigue, memory
loss and insomnia. Now British scientists believe it may be partially due
to the timing of vaccinations--the stress of war doesn't seem to mix well
with an immunization cocktail.

Soldiers were often told their ailments were psychological when
they first complained of them. But according to Michael Hotopf, a senior
lecturer at London's King's College (KC), GWS is too complex to be either
purely psychological or purely physical. "It is not an either/or
question," he says.

At KC's Gulf War Research Unit, Hotopf and other researchers
searched veterans' records for a connection between vaccinations and
later illnesses. Their findings, published recently in the British
Medical Journal, indicate that the syndrome's symptoms appear mostly in
personnel who received vaccinations after they had been sent to the
Gulf--not before. Hotopf believes that adding the stress of war to the
physical toll of vaccines might have set the servicemen up for illness.
"There may be an Interaction between vaccines and other
hazards---physical or psychological--in the Gulf," he says.

While the study doesn't implicate one single vaccination, it
indicates that multiple vaccinations may increase the risk of
experiencing GWS. Researchers are now working to find the syndrome's
source at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where the
Gulf War Illnesses Research Center will soon open.

ILLUSTRATION (COLOR)