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New Suspect in Gulf War Illness
Dr. Douglas FieldsChief of the Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
New Suspect In Gulf War Syndrome
Washington, D.C.– On February 26, 2010, the Veterans Affairs Department announced that it will re-examine the disability claims of thousands of Persian Gulf War veterans still suffering from the mysterious Gulf War illnesses two decades after the war ended. At a meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran’s Illnesses held yesterday in Washington, D.C., scientists from around the country presented their latest research to committee members searching for clues to this mysterious illness. Early in the meeting a new culprit emerged — “the other brain” — the non-electric portion of the brain composed of brain cells called glia.
“This is one of the best explanations I’ve heard,” commented distinguished neuroscientist Floyd Bloom, after a presentation by Dr. Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado speaking about her latest research showing that glial cells, called microglia, are the unsuspected agents in chronic pain and drug addiction. Previously neurons were thought to be the sole cause of chronic pain and morphine tolerance. However, the new insight into how these “immune cells” of the brain aggravate neurons after an injury by releasing substances that produce excruciating pain, a parallel with Gulf War Syndrome became apparent.
Gulf War syndrome is characterized by a collection of unexplained symptoms, many of them neurological, including chronic pain, chronic fatigue, depression, sleep disturbances, memory loss, as well as gastrointestinal and lung problems. A number of causes have been suspected, including exposure to low-level neurotoxins, including sarin gas, drugs taken to protect soldiers from biological and chemical warfare agents, pesticides used to treat tents and soldier’s uniforms stationed in the desert, depleted uranium from munitions, and the toxic mixture of fumes released for a year after the war ended from oil fields set ablaze by the retreating Iraq soldiers. The toxic fumes blotted out the sun at midday for miles.
Many people suffer chronic pain after an injury. Unlike normal pain, chronic pain does not end after the injury heals; in fact it often gets worse. The latest research shows that chronic pain results from an interaction between the immune system and the brain. When we are sick, substances are released by the body that tell the brain to initiate the familiar “sickness response,” which we have all experienced, for example when we catch the flu. Profound fatigue, headache, sensitivity to light and sound, and painful joints and muscles, drive us to bed. This sickness response forces us to rest and give the body the opportunity to fight the invading germ. This sounds a lot like the symptoms of many Gulf War veterans.
What Dr. Watkins suspects, based on her research on microglia in chronic pain, is that an initial exposure to some toxin “primes” the microglia in the brain to make them hyper alert. Then when a second infection, injury, or toxin is experienced, the brain’s immune cells over-react, releasing too much of the chemical signals that cause the “sickness response”, and they do not stop releasing the substances after the body heals. In the case of Gulf War veterans, the “initial trigger” could have been a reaction to an immunization, stress, or exposure to low-level toxins. Later a second insult to the body unleashes a run-away illness. Research from several labs on microglia in chronic pain has identified many steps in this neuro-immune signaling process that become disrupted and researchers have found specific drugs to restore the normal function of these pain circuits, thus ending the chronic pain. Most of this work is in laboratory animals but clinical studies are now under way.
In my overview to the committee on the four major kinds of glial cells in “the other brain”, several other ways in which glia could be involved in Gulf War illnesses were recognized. This includes the involvement of glial cells, called astrocytes, in processing toxins in the brain. Parkinson’s disease, for example can be caused by astrocytes acting on a foreign substance (a recreational drug), and converting it into a toxin that kills the neurons that die in Parkinson’s Disease. Astrocytes also release factors that protect neurons from damage caused by inflammation or oxidation, and they release growth factor proteins that stimulate the growth and repair of neurons.
The latest research on the myelin insulation on nerve fibers in the brain, which is essential for sending electrical signals, is revealing a previously unsuspected role of myelin in cognition and psychiatric illness. Myelin insulation is especially vulnerable to blast injuries and to autoimmune diseases in which the body’s immune system attacks the myelin sheath. The myelin sheath is made by a type of glial cell, called an oligodendrocyte. Prevously this insulation was of interest in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, but because the insulation speeds the rate of electrical transmission through nerve fibers (axons), myelin is now understood to have an important role in cognitive function, psychological illness, and learning.
One of the reasons the Gulf War Syndrome may have been so difficult to understand is that glia–the other brain–has itself been such a mystery until recently.
Related Articles
- The Other Brain
- New Culprits in Chronic Pain, Scientific American, November, 2009
- White Matter Matters, Scientific American, March, 2008
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=19390
Posted by Denise Nichols on Mar 3 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Gulf War Illness (GWI). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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VIBRATION SYNDROME is a progressive, usually fatal, nervous system disorder that affects ? people. See
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/83110_38.html#Evidence of Health Effects
and.
http://safetycenter.navy.mil/acquisition/vibration/index.asp
Could this be one of the causes of Gulf War Illness?
The Gulf War was the largest troop build up in History. The vibration expouser to the troops was uncalculable.
Two United States Navy Seabee Units Nmcb 40 and Nmcb 133 are the most symptomatic troops. See
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/155/11/1033
Could this be that they were Constuction Battalions?
Could this accout for the Seabees being the most symptomatic troops?
Would not the Seebeas occupation alone expose them to more dangrous vibration from equipment and tools?
Would this not be a plausible enough senario to warrant some research?
Wouldn’t knowing the cause of this Gulf War Illness help move us forward to start studing for a soultion to the problem and bring resolve to many?
Further Reading.
Human Response to Vibration
Neil J. Mansfield, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK ISBN: 9780415282390
Griffin, M.J. (1990, 1996) Handbook of human vibration. Published: Academic Press,
London, ISBN: 0-12-303040-4.
Thank you for this information !!!
You are very welcome!
Neuropathological changes in vibration injury: An experimental study
Hani S. Matloub, M.D. 1 *, Ji-Geng Yan, M.D. 1, Ramachandra B. Kolachalam, M.D. 1, Lin-Ling Zhang, M.D. 1, James R. Sanger, M.D. 1, Danny A. Riley, Ph.D. 2
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
2Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
email: Hani S. Matloub (hmatloub@mcw.edu)
*Correspondence to Hani S. Matloub, Department of Plastic Surgery, 8700 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226
Funded by:
NIOSH; Grant Number: R01-0H03493
ABSTRACT
Vibration syndrome, a clinical condition arising from chronic use of vibrating tools, is associated with a spectrum of neurovascular symptoms. To date, only its vascular pathology has been extensively studied; we sought to determine what direct neurologic injury, if any, is caused by vibration. Hindlimbs of anesthetized rats were affixed to a vibrating platform 4 h a day for 7 days. Study animals were vibrated with set parameters for frequency, acceleration, velocity, and amplitude; control animals were not vibrated. On day 7, nerves were studied by light and electron microscopy. While light microscopy showed minimal histologic differences between vibrated (n = 12) and control (n = 12) nerves, electron microscopic changes were dramatic. Splitting of the myelin sheath and axonal damage (e.g., myelin balls and finger ring) were consistently seen in both myelinated and nonmyelinated axons. Despite relatively short vibration, definite pathology was demonstrated, suggesting that vibration syndrome has a direct neurologic component. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 25:71-75, 2005.
Received: 29 March 2004; Accepted: 17 May 2004
It has nothind to do with vibration. We were exposed to alote of different chemicals, and they are what caused the health problems.
As a civilian veterinarian that had 3 separate worstening systemic reactions to Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed and Pentavalent Botulinum toxoid from 12/06 -5-07 I experienced delayed pain ~10-14 DAYS POST VAX. along with concurrent skin lesions that occured from circumscribed raised lesions to frank ecchymotic hemorrhages. The last vaccine caused diffuse arm pain and heaviness lasting ~8 wks. followed by R arm going numb overnight X ~ 3 weeks followed by weakness, tingling, tremor and temporary loss of motor function in my right arm and general dx. of peripheral neuropathy on8/3/07. ~ 5 days later a neurologist dx’ed post vaccinal brachial plexitis based on hx. and abnormal EMG in 5-6 muscle groups. I continued to experience episodes of r arm pain followed by a complete relapse of the neuro signs re-eval and dx. of Recurrant Brachial Plexitis ~ 6 months later. This was followed by extreme fatigue which persists today, together with bilat. arm pain/numbness, short term memory loss, high frequency hearing loss and other symptoms. Who can I contact to get involved with these researchers and clinical studies. Sincerely Warren Wilson DVM
Dr Wilson I tried to call you and will try again. There are about three websites dealing with the ANthrax vaccine by advocates and also DR Meryl Nass who has testified on this issue. I think I need to call you and get you connect with their phone numbers and also one of our GW Vet DVMS …
Please try and call again, I look forward to talking to you. I think I forwarded you a copy of my Walter Reed case investigation that Dr. Nass suggested I have done. Did you receive it?
WW
I still say it was the Carc Paint We used to paint the equiptment going to deseert storm, one month of exposer really messed Me up
Did you receive anthrax/ other vaccines? I don’t know anything about the paint, but from my reading on the topic there are a great number of GWS sufferers that never were deployed in the gulf. Virtually 100% of them had to take anthrax vaccine. Of the sick deployed 95% were positive for the antibody. The DOD has a patent for the test- why havn’t they used the test on Sick GWS sufferers?
One independant study showed 100% of those that were non-deployed but sick had an antibody to squalene(an illegal oil vaccine adjuvant). Interesting that the FDA found squalene in multiple vaccine lots when they were forced by the GAO to test for it’s presence. It’s all in the Congressional Record. Can’t understand for the life of me, why if they found it once when forced too, that the manufacturer (vaccine) isn’t being monitored for the continued presence of PPB amounts of squalene? Any other vaccine manufacturer would be?
This glial research is interesting. WW
well yes aware quite extensively and good old govt did their own research to try and disprove the Tulane University ie Squalene antibody study. There were also a big number of hearings on this with Former Rep Chris Shays Government Reform Committee. Bioport is now not the provider by the way. Again you might want to go to VA RAC GWI and review the 2009 Huge Report and also the IOM…..but we are not through with them yet and I am sure DR Wilson that Dr Nass will be excited to talk to you as a DVM!!!!! I will call you!!!
I know Bioport became Emmergent Biosolutions. Frankly I am not certain who manufactured the Pentavalent Botulinum Toxoid that is distributed by the CDC as an IND. Do you know or can you find out who manufactured it?
WW
The reason for the lies is because on the anthrax swindle?? You wouldnt believe who owns a majority of the anthrax was Admiral Crowe. My web site under documents menu has information about the reason the government has lied. Also Tulane University has tests that show non-deployed gulf war veterans have the same symptoms. The government has lied and try to hide all the records on the vaccinations. They have harassed researchers such as Professor Garth Nicolson. They point to PB pills, flea collars, and anything they dont have an interest in. I have severe pain taking morphine, sleep disorder taking pills and use CPAP, muscles twitching, been to Palo Alto and they are having me back again and I never stepped foot in Iraq. Never took nothing other than the vaccines in December 1990 “A” and “B” which later found out anthrax and botulinum. I believe that the excessive suicides by veterans that is also downplayed by the government. My web page under video menu has CNN reports that the government continues to deny and lie about the suicides. The denial of the VA leaves veterans with health problems and tells them it is in there heads. This is BULLCRAP. Unfortunately the veterans that did not deploy and received the vaccines knows the real cause of GWI. If the goverment really wanted to know the cause, why not test the non deployed veterans years ago. I did a web page to expose the lies about the vaccines. Read the history of bioport in the federal report from November 2008. Federal report is under documents menu on my web site. Bioport had several health code violations so many times that they were closed down for awhile.
Im a little concerned knowing how far the government has went to lie and create the “mystery illness”?? No mystery at all GWI is a result from the anthrax vaccines. MF59 or squalene causes neurological problems in the body. Read the Tulane University studies in 2000 and 2002 on squalene. Can you imagine the results would be if people knew the truth?? People would not take any vaccines or trust the government again. Knowing how many families were destroyed over the greed of the anthrax stock swindle. Realize how much compensation would cost U.S. already burdened tax payers?? Worst part of this whole thing is the VA to deny health care and downplay symptoms when documenting health problems. VA motto is “DELAY, DENY UNTIL WE DIE” It is ashame that going through the physical problems caused by military vaccines and seeing with clarity the greed of the anthrax swindle, then watching VA pretending to be doctors but instead protecting government secret of vaccines on the veterans that served this country. My faith is in Jesus. I predict soon the rapture of the church from this world is going to happen. Government will say, “UFO’s took millions of people from the world.” THE VA LEFT BEHIND
REMEMBER we are not centering on any one exposure. Many of us feel it is a combination with overlapping symptoms or a synergistic effect. WE are aware of deployed and nondeployed ill. I would like to refer you to the VA RAC GWI they have a website and their report released on Nov 2009 is very extensive and is on line. So you should look at it close to 500 pages heavily documented. The Carc paint I believe had some research studies I can add…and they were looking at REspiratory problems from that alone…they have also had new research just published that they are still evaluating re Lung Cancers…….
I have no doubt that you are correct that there are many exposures that are causing problems both singularily by themselves and also some that are likely a synergistic of of multiple exposures. I can only say that my only exposure was whatever was in the AVA and BOT vaccines I was required to take.
WW
I painted all our brigades vehicleswith CARC Paint while at Fort Hood,Texas before we deployed. We had NO respirators and are saliva was light brown when spitting that crap out while spray painting. The VA should recognize this CARC more than it does.
Here is a quantum soup of nastiness. Add: (Heat Stress + Vibration exposer + All other researched exposer = Gulf War Illness ? I am sure we could add more to the equation.
Just food for thought.
What are the health effects of whole-body vibration?
Whole-body vibration can cause fatigue, insomnia, stomach problems, headache and “shakiness” shortly after or during exposure. The symptoms are similar to those that many people experience after a long car or boat trip. After daily exposure over a number of years, whole-body vibration can affect the entire body and result in a number of health disorders. Sea, air or land vehicles cause motion sickness when the vibration exposure occurs in the 0.1 to 0.6 Hz frequency range. Studies of bus and truck drivers found that occupational exposure to whole-body vibration could have contributed to a number of circulatory, bowel, respiratory, muscular and back disorders. The combined effects of body posture, postural fatigue, dietary habits and whole-body vibration are the possible causes for these disorders.
Studies show that whole-body vibration can increase heart rate, oxygen uptake and respiratory rate, and can produce changes in blood and urine. East European researchers have noted that exposure to whole-body vibration can produce an overall ill feeling which they call “vibration sickness.”
Many studies have reported decreased performance in workers exposed to whole-body vibration.
How much vibration exposure has to accumulate before people are affected?
As in all occupational exposures, individual sensitivity to vibration varies from person to person.
Three important factors affect the health effects that can result from exposure to vibration:
the threshold value or the amount of vibration exposure that results in no adverse health effects
the dose-response relationship (how the severity of the ill health effects is related to the amount of exposure)
latent period (time from first exposure to appearance of symptoms
The threshold value of vibration is the level below which there is no risk of vibration syndrome. In other words, it is the maximum intensity of vibration to which most healthy workers can be exposed every workday for their entire full-time employment without developing numbness, paleness or chill of fingers. Workers will not develop vibration-related injuries or disease if their exposure to vibration is maintained at sufficiently low levels.
Neuropathological changes in vibration injury: An experimental study
Hani S. Matloub, M.D. 1 *, Ji-Geng Yan, M.D. 1, Ramachandra B. Kolachalam, M.D. 1, Lin-Ling Zhang, M.D. 1, James R. Sanger, M.D. 1, Danny A. Riley, Ph.D. 2
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
2Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
email: Hani S. Matloub (hmatloub@mcw.edu)
*Correspondence to Hani S. Matloub, Department of Plastic Surgery, 8700 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226
Funded by:
NIOSH; Grant Number: R01-0H03493
ABSTRACT
Vibration syndrome, a clinical condition arising from chronic use of vibrating tools, is associated with a spectrum of neurovascular symptoms. To date, only its vascular pathology has been extensively studied; we sought to determine what direct neurologic injury, if any, is caused by vibration. Hindlimbs of anesthetized rats were affixed to a vibrating platform 4 h a day for 7 days. Study animals were vibrated with set parameters for frequency, acceleration, velocity, and amplitude; control animals were not vibrated. On day 7, nerves were studied by light and electron microscopy. While light microscopy showed minimal histologic differences between vibrated (n = 12) and control (n = 12) nerves, electron microscopic changes were dramatic. Splitting of the myelin sheath and axonal damage (e.g., myelin balls and finger ring) were consistently seen in both myelinated and nonmyelinated axons. Despite relatively short vibration, definite pathology was demonstrated, suggesting that vibration syndrome has a direct neurologic component. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 25:71-75, 2005.
If your theory is correct, then there should be an epidemic globally of people experiencing the symptoms. There isn’t. These symptoms are serious and “vibration syndrome” does not begin to explain the chronic debilitating symptoms as described by countless veterans including the veterans here at the B.S. Police . In short The B.S. Police finds your comments B.S. Please understand that when you present such crap to the public, the public will respond with more crap. Please stop posting this crap and consider a career change, that is unless you were hired to present misinformation. Perhaps you could try to find a job that actually helps veterans, not confuse veterans with bunk information.
-The B.S. Police
I am a Gulf War Vet with all the accoutrements of illnesses. I was in the northern area bordering Iraq for all the good stuff, SCUD missiles, Oil smoke fires, the aftermath of the bunkers being blown up…
I began seeing a civilian neurologist, because the one I saw at the VA in New Hampshire told me they didn’t know anything about GWI. The neurologist had me go for an MRI and a PET Scan. This is the MRI report. Is the mention of “possible Gliosis” indicative of what your article is in reference too?
Thank you for all the great information you provided.
Exams; REASON FOR EXAM::
000799612 MR HEAD WO CONTRAST CNS DEMYLATION UNSPEC
MBa OF THE BRAIN
REASON FOR EXAMINATION! CNS demyelination, unspecified.
Diffusion weighted irr~ges show no focal areas of high signal intensity to indicate an acute ischemic infarct__
T1 weighted sagittal images show nor.mal signal intensity from the corpus ca1losum~ midbrain and brainstem without evidence for an extra-axial fluid collection or a mass.
Axial images using FLAIR and T2 weighting show same very small areas of increased water content located in each hemisphere. There are two small densities in the left frontal lobe, three to four in the posterior right parietal lobe and one small subcortical lesion in the posterior left parietaL lobe. The findings are nonspecific but do indicate increased water content and possibly Gliosis.
** Electronically Signed by DOUGLAS K. RHODES M.D. **
** on 07/10/2009 at 1507 ** Reported and Signed by: DOUGLAS K_ RHODES, M.D.
Lynn M. Santosuosso
SFC, Army, Veteran
400th MP Bn
Hafar al Batin, SA 1990-1991
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later