Vets sought for Gulf War study

[Guest guest]

Vets sought for Gulf War study

By Abramowitz

The Daily Reflector

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of veterans arrived home after the 1991 Gulf War

in Iraq and Kuwait with the victory they expected — and a debilitating

neurological illness they didn't.

More than 20 years later, with no known effective treatments, an East

Carolina University medical toxicologist is leading a team of

biomedical scientists in a study of new medicines to treat Gulf War

Illness. That is the name given to the chronic fatigue and pain as

well as difficulty with mental tasks suffered by some who served in

the war and its aftermath, said Dr. Meggs, the study leader.

Meggs is a board-certified toxicologist, professor of emergency

medicine at ECU and chief of toxicology at Vidant Medical Center in

Greenville.

The illness, also known as Gulf War Syndrome, apparently affects about

one-third of the nearly 700,000 veterans of the 1991 conflict, ECU

officials said..

The Department of Defense is sponsoring the $1.1 million, three-year

study. Meggs hopes to recruit 60 veterans who developed Gulf War

Illness to participate in the research of generic drugs that control

inflammation in the brain that may have been triggered by neurotoxin

exposures.

" The illness has had a very checkered history, " Meggs said. " It was

originally dismissed as post-traumatic stress disorder by medical

staff of the U.S. Veterans Administration because (the symptoms) are

so prevalent after warfare. But this particular illness was from a

ground war that was over in days, with only (258 U.S.) combat

casualties. "

Continued investigation and review by the Institute of Medicine, a

branch of the National Academy of Sciences, led to the conclusion that

illness was a psychological condition, Meggs said. That was

significant because the academy advises Congress, which appropriates

funds for care and treatment by VA staff....

....When faced with the accumulated evidence gathered through the years

and presented in the later research reports, including 1,840 research

publications on the topic reviewed by Meggs' committee, the National

Academy reversed its position on Gulf War illness, saying the emphasis

should now be on treatment, Meggs said.

The double-blind study Meggs is leading will use safe generic

medications purchased with grant money and known to regulate brain

inflammation.

" Our hypothesis is that the harmful chemicals produce some smoldering

low-level inflammation of the brain, " he said. " There's been a

tremendous amount of money spent by both the U.S. government and the

United Kingdom, whose personnel also suffer with the illness, leading

to their own investigations. We now have a deeper understanding of

this disease, but have no effective treatments. The research emphasis

has shifted from what happened to these service men and women to

getting them well. "

Gulf War veterans interested in the study can contact Meggs at .

The full article can be read here:

http://www.reflector.com/news/veterans-sought-gulf-war-medical-study-1158117