GULF WAR SYNDROME

In the politically supercharged atmosphere that surrounds this particular controversy and with key data in the hands of politically controlled government agencies, the causes of the increased incidence of debilitating diseases among participants in the Gulf War may never be reliably known. Soldiers in foreign wars have often found that their immersion in an unfamiliar biological environment has led to many casualties - sometimes more than those inflicted by their opponents. The current availability of modern chemical and biological agents is a further complication. Regardless of hypothetical causes, empirical findings on the cure of these soldiers are of great importance.

"Doxycycline Treatment and Desert Storm'' by G. L. Nicolson and N. L. Nicolson, J. Am. Med. Assoc. 273, pp 618-619 (1995), and "Progress on Persian Gulf War Illnesses - Reality and Hypothesis'' by G. L. Nicolson et al, Int. J. Occupational Medicine and Toxicology 4, pp 1-6 (1995), report an antibiotic treatment successful in treating 55% of the Gulf War Syndrome cases on which it has been tried.

Professor G. L. Nicolson is in the Department of Tumor Biology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030. Telephone (713) 792-7481.