Gulf War veterans' vertigo linked to brain damage, chemical exposure

A new study concludes that bouts of dizziness experienced by some Persian Gulf War veterans are caused by brain damage.<br><br>Researchers say the veterans have brain stem damage similar to that of victims

Friday, April 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A new study concludes that bouts of dizziness experienced by some Persian Gulf War veterans are caused by brain damage.

Researchers say the veterans have brain stem damage similar to that of victims of a 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack. The dizzy spells also may explain why a 1996 study found that Gulf War veterans died in traffic accidents at a higher rate than other veterans.

Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say their research provides further evidence that the Gulf War veterans were harmed by exposure to chemical and nerve agents.

An article detailing the scientists' research into veterans suffering from dizziness appears in the most recent issue of the medical journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

The article noted that "symptoms like those found in the Gulf War veterans we studied are typical of persons exposed to pesticides or industrial workers repeatedly exposed to organophosphates."

Since the war ended in 1991, veterans have complained about a variety of mysterious symptoms, including dizziness, memory loss, fatigue, rashes and joint pain.

"We've got an accumulating amount of evidence that this is due to a combination of exposures," said Dr. Peter Roland, professor of otolaryngology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the journal article.

"Key to that is recognizing that nerve gas and the antidote for nerve gas - and chemical insecticides - share certain common features. If you get a little bit of each . . . you can get damage that each one by itself wouldn't produce."

Earlier research at UT Southwestern found that combinations of chemicals and pyridostigmine bromide (PB) tablets, which service members took to combat the effects of nerve gas, may be responsible for the veterans' medical problems.

Researchers also have found evidence that veterans born with low levels of an enzyme that destroys chemical toxins were more likely to have brain damage from exposure to low levels of nerve agents and pesticides, explaining why some who served in the Gulf became ill and others did not.

The dizziness study is described by researchers as an important step in developing tests to identify brain damage in Gulf War veterans.

Dr. Robert Haley, a co-author of the Otolaryngology article and the lead researcher in the long-running examination of ailing Gulf War vets, said the link between dizziness and brain damage may also explain the findings of a 1996 Department of Veterans Affairs study. That research found, "Among veterans of the Persian Gulf War, there was a significantly higher mortality rate than among veterans deployed elsewhere, but most of the increase was due to accidents rather than disease."

Dr. Haley said he believes dizziness caused by brain damage may be common among Gulf War veterans "and . . . it's not a surprise that a bunch of them are having car accidents."

Veterans in the study were subjected to tests that measure brain activity and eye movements. The tests, Dr. Roland said, "show evidence of dysfunction in the deepest structures of the brain, where balance is controlled."

Dr. Haley said the test results for Gulf War veterans are similar to test results from victims of a 1995 sarin nerve gas attack in a Tokyo subway, in which about 5,500 Japanese were exposed.

"In another words, the Tokyo sarin victims have developed what appears to be similar to Gulf War Syndrome," he said.

Some veterans complain that government doctors did not believe their dizziness was a physical ailment.

"They have basically been told over the years this was either due to stress or psychological," Dr. Roland said. "This study suggests that's not so. It's due to injury to their balance system."
Jerry Jones, 57, of Leicester, N.C., said he began having dizzy spells after he returned from the Persian Gulf. The senior chief petty officer, also a Vietnam veteran, served with the Navy's 24th Naval Mobile Construction Battalion during the Gulf War.

Sometimes he became nauseated, he said. At its worst, "I could get out of a chair and take three or four steps and black out," Mr. Jones said.