AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
London: Doctors monitoring British troops in the Iraq war reported Tuesday that so far they see no repeat of the notorious yet elusive condition known as Gulf War Syndrome, which surfaced after the 1991 conflict.
British specialists also found that part-time British soldiers were more likely to suffer from common mental disorders such as anxiety or depression.
In a study published online by the British medical journal The Lancet, health experts from King's College, London, surveyed a cross-section of male British military personnel deployed to Iraq, and counterparts who were not sent to the conflict.
The 50-question checklist asked whether the respondent had suffered from fatigue, sleeping problems, joint stiffness, night sweats, forgetfulness, dizziness, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting or other symptoms.
The researchers found only a slight increase in common symptoms of ill health among the troops who were sent to Iraq compared with similar personnel who were not deployed there.
These findings contrast sharply with an identical survey conducted after the 1991 Gulf War, where tiredness and irritability, cognitive problems and musculoskeletal pain were widely reported among frontline troops.
These and other symptoms have been reported to greater or lesser degrees by tens of thousands of US, British, Canadian and French troops who took part in the campaign to oust Iraq from Kuwait.
Gulf War Syndrome was the term coined for the complaint, which doctors acknowledge can be debilitating but are at a loss to explain its cause.
Explanations have included combat stress, reactions to vaccinations to protect personnel against feared bioweapons and nerve gas, pollution from oil well fires, contamination from dust from US depleted uranium munitions and poor adjustment to civilian life after a military career.
In the latest paper, the authors tentatively point a finger at the pattern of vaccinations given to troops before the 1991 conflict.
But it also suggests that better health surveillance and information to troops involved in the 2003 war helped stop a rumour mill that amplified concerns about ill health.
British forces reserve personnel who have fought in Iraq are to get better mental health services following a separate study, also published by The Lancet.
Specialists found that regular British troops sent to Iraq have not, so far, suffered from ill health, three years after the conflict began.
The study cautioned, though, that further monitoring was needed and warned that deployed reservists reported more symptoms of ill health, by 25 percent to 19 percent.
This could be due to stresses that particularly face reservists, who may lack a supportive role from relatives or employers, whereas regular troops are backed by an established network of support through the regimental system, the study said.
The government has now said that reservists suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or similar problems will be treated by the defence ministry like their full-time counterparts, rather than relying on the public National Health Service.
Gulf War veteran reservist Tony Flint told BBC television: “We haven't got the support there that should be there. We're only used as and when necessary, basically like cannon fodder.
“You're put in there, do your job, thank you, goodbye and that's it, they don't want to know.”
About 12,500 British reservists have been deployed in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.
Defence Minister Tom Watson said: “My department is carefully considering the recommendation that additional follow-up research is required.”
