Transcript ersian Gulf War Syndrome

Persian Gulf War Syndrome
Elective Subject :Current Health Problem
Elaborated by Mostafa Jamaliramin
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What is Gulf war syndrome?
• In the years since the end of the war a great deal of
research and investigation has been devoted to this
question. At this point, we can offer some general
possibilities and answers. Gulf War Syndrome
(GWS) is probably not a single, new illness or
disorder. Rather, GWS is most likely a collection
of different illnesses with similar symptoms. This
has caused confusion and has made it difficult for
researchers to come up with a case definition.
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Chronology of events that lead to
the current Gulf War Syndrome:
1. Iraq invades Kuwait, 'Desert Shield' begins.
2. U.S. warns of Iraq's military and chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons capabilities.
3. 'Desert Storm' begins. Troops invade Iraq and
Kuwait, and return Kuwait to it's former rulers,
in one of the shortest wars on record.
4. Troops return home and begin to complain of
unusual symptoms.
5. Gulf War Syndrome is discovered.
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Medical problems by soldier
nationality
• US & UK the highest rates of excessive
illness
• As of March 1996,of the 697,000 U.S.
troops who served in the war, approximately
108,000 are on a Registry
• French & Australian troops the lowest
illness rate
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Symptom U.S.
UK
Australia Denmark
Fatigue
Headache
Memory
problem
Muscle/
joint pain
Diarrhea
dyspepsia
Skin
problem
Shortness
of breath
23%
17%
32%
23%
18%
28%
10%
7%
12%
16%
13%
23%
18%
17%
5%
2%
16%
12%
16%
_
_
_
9%
5%
8%
13%
9%
12%
13%
_
9%
11%
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Symptoms of Gulf War
Illnesses
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Chronic Fatigue
Signs and symptoms involving skin rashes
Headache
Muscle pain
Neurological signs or symptoms
Neuropsychological signs or symptoms
Sleep disturbances
Gastrointestinal signs or symptoms
Cardiovascular signs or symptoms
Menstrual disorders
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Possible Causes
• combustion products from depleted uranium
munitions,
• side-effects from the early 1990s' anthrax
vaccine
• infectious diseases from parasites,
• chemical weapons such as nerve gas or
mustard gas
• and combinations of the above factors
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Anthrax Vaccine
What is Anthrax?
Anthrax (Greek for coal)
is an acute disease in
humans and pigs that is
caused by the bacterium
Bacillus anthracis and is
highly lethal in some
forms. Anthrax is one of
only a few bacteria that
can form long lived
spores.
Anthrax vaccine is a
vaccine against the
infectious disease,
anthrax.
A study linking squalene ,an
experimental vaccine
adjuvant, to individuals with
the clinical signs of Gulf
War Syndrome was
published in 2002. The
published findings strongly
suggest that the squalene
contaminated vaccines could
be responsible for the Gulf
War Syndrome
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• The anthrax vaccine was originally licensed in
1970 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health
• 41% of U.S. combat soldiers and 57-75% of UK
combat soldiers were vaccinated against anthrax
• The early 1990s version of the anthrax vaccine
was a source of several serious side effects
including GWI symptoms
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• From 1998 to 2000, more than 1,859,000 doses of anthrax
vaccine were distributed in the United States.During that
decade, 1,544 adverse events were reported to the Vaccine
Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 76 of these
events (5%) were serious (results in death, hospitalisation,
or permanent disability or is life-threatening)
• Primary vaccination consists of three subcutaneous
injections at zero, two, and four weeks, and three
vaccinations at six, twelve, and eighteen months followed
by annual boosters. For prolonged protection, annual
boosters are recommended
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Chemical weapons
• (Deleted Uranium) was
used in tank kinetic energy
penetrator on a large scale
for the first time in the
Gulf War. DU munitions
often burn when they
impact a hard target,
producing toxic
combustion products.
Depleted uranium
• Many of the symptoms,
other than low cancer
incidence rates, of Gulf
War syndrome are similar
to the symptoms of
organophosphate, mustard
gas, and nerve gas
poisoning. Gulf War
veterans were exposed to a
number of sources of these
compounds, including
nerve gas and pesticides.
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Infectious diseases
• There are some who
believe that Gulf War
Syndrome is the result
of a contagious
bacteria
• There are anecdotal
reports of
improvement in some
victims when treated
with antibiotics
Stress
• War is a stressful
experience or that all
wars carry psychological
consequence
• Many psychiatric
conditions, including
depression and Post
Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) can
present with physical as
well as psychological
symptoms.
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Controversy
There has been considerable controversy over whether or not
Gulf War syndrome is a physical medical condition related to
sufferers' Gulf War service
Evidence for
• US veteran affairs secretary panel research found:
The veterans' illnesses are neurological and apparently
are linked to exposure to neurotoxins, such as the nerve
gas sarin, the anti-nerve gas drug pyridostigmin
bromide, and pesticides that affect the nervous system.
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• Research studies conducted since the war have
consistently indicated that psychiatric illness,
combat experience or other deployment-related
stressors do not explain Gulf War veterans illnesses
in the large majority of ill veterans.
• lower fertility & 40 to 50% more likely to be
unable to start a pregnancy
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Evidence against:
• Similar syndromes have been seen as an after
effect of other conflicts
• Post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) after the
Vietnam war & shell shock after World War 1
have similar syndromes of the GWS
• No single cluster of symptoms that constitute a
syndrome unique to Gulf War veterans has been
identified
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Is This a Real Disease?
• A November 1996 article in the New England
Journal of Medicine found no difference in death
rates, hospitalisation rates or self-reported
symptoms between Persian Gulf vets and nonPersian Gulf vets
• The studies did find a statistically
significant elevation in the number of traffic
accidents suffered by Persian Gulf vets vs.
non-Persian Gulf vets.
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• New research from the UK, comparing the
health of those who served in gulf war with
those who did not, found no evidence of any
rise in multi symptom conditions associated
with Gulf War Syndrome
• This casts doubts on the role of certain
exposures such as anthrax vaccine, depleted
uranium,…..
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• Gulf War Syndrome is, most likely, an
unfortunate bi-product of a
combination of things:
1.Tremendous media hype surrounding the
threat of chemical and biological weapons
during the First Gulf War
2.The litigious nature of our society
3.The fact that the United States Government
is a target for litigation and those with antiwar sentiment
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Acknowledgement
• Database set up by the American Legion
• http://en.wikipedia.org
• American Gulf War Veteran Association
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