US links fatal disorder to Gulf War service

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US links fatal disorder to Gulf War service

16:31 11 December 01

Emma Young

Gulf War veterans are nearly twice as likely to develop Lou Gehrig's

disease - a fatal neurological disorder - than military personnel who were

not sent to the region, the US government said on 10 December.

It is the first time the US government has acknowledged a link between

service in the Gulf and a specific disease, though many links with ill

health have previously been suggested. But some scientists are questioning

the government's findings.

The US Defense and Veterans Affairs departments compared medical data on

almost 700,000 personnel who were in the Gulf during the 1990-1991 war with

data on 1.8 million military personnel who were deployed elsewhere. They

identified 40 cases of the disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral

sclerosis (AMS), in the Gulf veterans, and 67 in the control group.

" These findings are of great concern and warrant further study, " said

Principi, secretary of VA. Compensation will be paid to the victims

and their families, he said.

But Green of the UK's Motor Neurone Disease Association says the

results may be nothing more than a statistical blip. " You would expect to

find 33 cases of ALS in a group the size of the veterans group - and about

85 in a group the size of the non-Gulf War group, " he says. " So you could

also ask the question: why is the number of cases so low in the non-Gulf War

group? "

" That is the problem with these kind of studies and these kind of

statistics. You are dealing with such small numbers of cases that a handful

of extra cases can distort the final figures. "

Environmental triggers

The US government's analysis found that Air Force Gulf veterans were 2.7

times more likely to develop ALS than other personnel, while Army veterans

were twice as likely to be diagnosed. The incidence in Marine and Navy

veterans matched the rate in the control group.

But no one knows the cause of the disease - or why there are variations in

incidence rates in different groups of Gulf veterans, VA officials said.

" Over the years there have been lots of suggestions that exposure to

different environmental factors acts as a trigger for motor neurone

disease, " Green says. " Serving in the Gulf War may be one of these triggers.

But with a result like this you have to be careful about reading too much

into it at this early stage. "

There is no evidence of a link between Gulf War service and ALS in British

military personnel, says Green.

People with ALS experience a degeneration in nerve cells responsible for

voluntary movement - so-called motor neurones. Eventually, patients become

paralysed. Death usually follows two to five years after diagnosis.

16:31 11 December 01