This would have never happened if we were not providing effective and meaningful assistance to these Special Forces patients. I have listed below the criteria for judging whether the mycoplasmal infections that we have found is pathogenic. More of the mycoplasma can be recovered from diseased patients than from those without disease. An antibody response is found in more diseased Pt than in those without disease. A clinical response is accompanied by elimination of the mycoplasma.
Clinical response is differential depending on the type of antibiotic.
The mycoplasma causes a similar disease when administered to volunteers. No one has ever said that it was. This is likely an appropriate answer in a rather large subset of GWI as well as CFS and FMS patients, but not every patient will have such chronic infections. Some patients probably have chemical exposures or other problems as the underlying reason for their chronic signs and symptoms. In these patients antibiotics should have no effect whatsoever.