LONDON -- Symptoms of gulf war syndrome could be triggered by smells, tastes and sounds -- including fire and smoke -- that recall the conflict for those who fought in it, two British psychologists said in a new report.
The body's immune system can react to stress and infectious agents in a way that produces symptoms similar to gulf war syndrome, the illness reported by some U.S. and British veterans of the 1991 conflict, said Eamonn Ferguson and Helen Cassaday.The report by the two researchers at Nottingham University, in central England, was published in the latest edition of the British Journal of Psychology, on stands here Monday.
Symptoms of gulf war syndrome include fatigue, headaches, depression, joint and muscle pain, rashes, sleep disturbances and poor memory and concentration.
The researchers said that during the gulf war a combination of environmental stresses and the cocktail of drugs given to soldiers triggered this response.
Subsequent exposure, even at home, to diesel fumes, oil, fire or smoke, and the experience of flashbacks to traumatic events, continued to set off the adverse reactions.
The researchers said the response of the immune system depended on the action of a chemical signal produced by white blood cells called interleukin-1, and this could provide a treatment.
"Gulf war syndrome may be treatable with counter-conditioning," said Ferguson. "Also, treatment with drugs which specifically target the physiological aspects of the syndrome, targeting the chemical known as interleukin-1, may be a safe therapy."
Last month, the Pentagon raised the possibility for the first time of a connection between gulf war syndrome and the drug pyridostigmine bromide, or PB, which is administered to an estimated 250,000 soldiers. It said more scientific study is needed before it can either confirm a connection or rule it out.
Rand Corp., a Pentagon-financed research group, examined about 1,000 published studies on PB and concluded that a possible connection "cannot be dismissed." In the gulf war, the drug was given to troops as protection against potential attack by the nerve agent soman, even though there was no evidence to suggest that Iraq had soman.
Last week, Britain's National Gulf Veterans and Families Association severed all links with the Ministry of Defense, accusing the ministry of conducting inaccurate clinical studies into whether troops were poisoned by chemical or biological agents during the war.
The Defense Ministry denied charges of a cover-up and said it is still trying to find out why some veterans are ill.