2013-01-24-Report-New-vets-showing-Gulf-War-illness-symptoms_ST_U.xml
^$^Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may be suffering from a 20-year-old set of symptoms known as Gulf War illness, according to a report released Wednesday by the federal Institute of Medicine.
"Preliminary data suggest that (chronic multisymptom illness) is occurring in veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well," the report says.
This may be the first time that the symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been linked to veterans of the wars that started in 2001 and 2003, said Paul Rieckhoff, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
It also means the Department of Veterans Affairs' definition of who qualifies for Gulf War veterans' benefits should include those who served in Afghanistan, said Paul Sullivan, a 1991 veteran and founder of Veterans for Common Sense.
The researchers were investigating treatments for Gulf War illness. Their research included traumatic brain injury, which is caused by blunt force to the head or proximity to an explosion; post-traumatic stress disorder, which must involve exposure to trauma; respiratory problems; and chronic pain.
Chronic multisymptom illness was formerly called Gulf War syndrome, the Institute of Medicine report said. It includes symptoms in at least two of six categories: fatigue, mood and cognition issues, musculoskeletal problems, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory difficulties and neurologic issues that last for at least six months.
About one-third of Gulf War veterans, or 175,000 to 250,000 people, have the illness.
The symptoms are too broad for any one treatment, the report said. "We reject a 'one size fits all' treatment approach," said committee chairman Bernard Rosof, chairman of the board of directors at Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y. "We endorse individualized health care management plans as the best approach."
Researchers also said there may be no specific cause for the illness. "Despite considerable efforts by researchers in the United States and elsewhere, there is no consensus as to the cause of CMI," the report states.
"They've lumped together so many ill people that it's impossible to come up with one treatment," said Anthony Hardie, a Gulf War veteran.
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