Gulf War Illnesses: Research, Clinical Monitoring, and Medical Surveillance

摘要

Before providing you details on the results of our work, let me briefly providesome background information. During service associated with the Gulf War, many of the approximately 700,000 veterans might have been exposed to avariety of potentially hazardous substances. These substances include compounds used to decontaminate equipment and protect it agalnst chemical agents, pesticides, vaccines, and drugs to protect agalnst chemical warfare agents (for example, pyridostigmine bromide). Following the postwar demolition of Iraqi ammunition facilities, some veterans might also have been exposed to the nerve agent sarin. Over 100,000 of the approximately 700,000 Gulf War veterans have participated in DOD and VA health examination programs established between 1992 and 1994. Of those veterans examined by DOD and VA, nearly 90 percent have reported a wide array of health complaints and disabling conditions, including fatigue, muscle and joint pain, gastrointestinal complaints, headaches, depression, neurologic and neurocognitive impairments, memory loss, shortness of breath, and sleep disturbances. Some of the veterans fear that they are suffering from chronic disabling conditions because of exposure during the war to substances with known or suspected health effects.