The Gulf War mystery GULF War syndrome is back in the news with better questions being raised about the unexplained illnesses suffered by veterans of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
Answers remain elusive, but scientists are focusing on areas that deserve more study.
The latest is a massive survey of scientific literature that suggested a drug widely issued as nerve-gas protection cannot be ruled out. Of 697,000 men and women who served in the Iraqi war, more than 100,000 have registered with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon saying they have health concerns related to the war. The VA says more than 20 percent of these people have undiagnosed symptoms that commonly include fatigue, muscle and joint pains, headaches, memory loss, skin rash, diarrhea and sleep disturbances. Several earlier studies were unable to find any links to military service and the maladies broadly defined as Gulf War illness. Investigation has been hampered on a variety of fronts.