Countercounterpoint: Haley Replies

Haley, Robert W.

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009649

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…1 2 The existence of a specific Gulf War syndrome has been widely debated, [3][4][5][6][7][8] but there is little evidence to support this concept, similar health problems being reported by veterans from other wars. 9 Nevertheless, active military service in the Gulf War was associated with several hazardous exposures; some of these, such as exposure to the smoke of burning oil, vaccinations against biological warfare, organophosphates, and measures to protect against chemical warfare were more prominent in Gulf War veterans than in other military cohorts whereas others, such as multiple vaccinations, were used with similar frequency.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced bone formation in UK Gulf War veterans: a bone histomorphometric study

Compston

Vedi²,

Stephen³

et al. 2002

Journal of Clinical Pathology

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced bone formation in UK Gulf War veterans: a bone histomorphometric study

Compston

Vedi²,

Stephen³

et al. 2002

Journal of Clinical Pathology

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“…If this were the case, then it would be expected (other things being equal) that the non-deployed troops would be more likely to present with illness than the deployed 'healthier' group (discounting the effects of their war zone experiences). If this potential bias is acknowledged, it follows that no difference between the comparison groups (deployed versus non-deployed) would mean that the deployed 'healthier' groups were nevertheless more ill (but see [17,35,37,40,56]).…”

Section: Gws -Does It Exist?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical Accounts of Gulf War Syndrome: From Environmental Toxins to Psychoneuroimmunology and Neurodegeneration

Ferguson

Cassaday

2001

Behavioural Neurology

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Non-specific illness includes a wide variety of symptoms: behavioural (e.g., reduced food and water intake), cognitive (e.g., memory and concentration problems) and physiological (e.g., fever). This paper reviews evidence suggesting that such symptoms can be explained more parsimoniously as a single symptom cluster than as a set of separate illnesses such as Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This superordinate syndrome could have its biological basis in the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines (in particular interleukin-1: IL-1), that give rise to what has become known as the ‘sickness response’. It is further argued that the persistence of non-specific illness in chronic conditions like GWS may be (in part) attributable to a bio-associative mechanism (Ferguson and Cassaday, 1999). In the case of GWS, physiological challenges could have produced a non-specific sickness response that became associated with smells (e.g., petrol), coincidentally experienced in the Persian Gulf. On returning to the home environment, these same smells would act as associative triggers for the maintenance of (conditioned) sickness responses. Such associative mechanisms could be mediated through the hypothalamus and limbic system via vagal nerve innervation and would provide an explanation for the persistence of a set of symptoms (e.g., fever) that should normally be short lived and self-limiting. We also present evidence that the pattern of symptoms produced by the pro-inflammatory cytokines reflects a shift in immune system functioning towards a (T-helper-1) Th1 profile. This position contrasts with other immunological accounts of GWS that suggest that the immune system demonstrates a shift to a Th2 (allergy) profile. Evidence pertaining to these two contrasting positions is reviewed.

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“…Many studies have already reported (2,3,4) and some remain the subject of much debate on statistical methodology and interpretation (5).…”

Section: Is There a "Gulf War Syndrome"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gulf Related Illness - Current Perspectives

Upshall

2000

J R Army Med Corps

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In the years after Operation Desert Storm and Operation Granby, some 4-8% of veterans of the conflict began to report symptoms of illness. Common complaints included fatigue, impaired cognition, joint pain, sleep disturbances, and chest pains. Between 1992 and 1994 in the USA, and later in the UK, governments set up medical assessment programmes to define the scope of the problem in qualitative and quantitative terms. Initial efforts moved to extensive epidemiological assessment and a search for causative mechanisms of what became termed "Gulf War Syndrome". Eventually significant sums of money were invested in medical and investigative research in an attempt to relate symptoms to causes. This paper presents the historical background and context to the problem of Gulf and war related illnesses, summarises the findings of relevant epidemiological studies and discusses some of the hypotheses that have been generated to explain the clusters of symptoms reported by veterans. Finally, the current UK research programme and its underlying rationale is presented. The aim is to provide an overview of the current position and assist in the interpretation of a diagnostically difficult area.

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Countercounterpoint: Haley Replies

Cited by 4 publications

References 43 publications

Reduced bone formation in UK Gulf War veterans: a bone histomorphometric study

Reduced bone formation in UK Gulf War veterans: a bone histomorphometric study

Theoretical Accounts of Gulf War Syndrome: From Environmental Toxins to Psychoneuroimmunology and Neurodegeneration

Gulf Related Illness - Current Perspectives

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