Outline
- The reality of Gulf War Illness
- Treatment merit studies
- Its manifestation
- Gulf war ailments
- Risk factors,
- Anthrax vaccine
- Patient responses to treatment
- Pesticides
The Gulf War Illness, its manifestation, risk factors and efforts of eliminating it
The department of veteran affairs (2010) gave a testimony with the cooperation of the congressional directive commission of scientists that justifies the conclusion that the Gulf War illness is a real disease that exist among Gulf war veterans. An advancement of this evidence can be attached to the information from rehabilitation bases of military personnel and veterans show which indicated that it was during the Gulf War when the US had deployed more service members into war areas. Some of these war zones included Libya, Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq. The veteran’s administration department therefore saw the need to focus on diagnosing and treating the gulf war illness. This was one way through which veterans would be rejuvenated.
The reality of Gulf War Illness
It is worth emphasizing that the veterans suffered from various illnesses some of which were caused by having relatively lower levels of nerve transport agents in the body systems, lack of vaccination against risky infections as well as smoke toxics and emissions from burning oil wells. There was also evidence of former militia officers who had been rehabilitated in various locations within war zones following the disruptive Gulf War. As a matter of fact, these were adequate evidence that these soldiers indeed went through the most difficult times while in the war bearing in mind that most of them suffered various illnesses as a result of the war. This proved that the war was in fact a vital source of illnesses to the soldiers in the war.
Treatment merit studies
The federal advisory body on the Gulf War illness reported that more than a quarter of the approximately seven hundred military members from the United states of America who had served in the Persian Gulf War had consistent multiple health complications and unique problems since returning home (Schneider, 2008). Merit of any given issue is more meaningful when it is given according to clear results that have developmental impact on the resolution of the problem or challenges being faced. When revising the concerted efforts of treatment and eradication of gulf war illness it is a good effort that the writer puts across that government have still been debating instead of treating culprits of this disease. It is also quite vivid that according to Schneider (2008), the committee on the illnesses of Gulf War veterans pointed out the disguised dangerous syndrome. It was noted that the Gulf War Syndrome was in fact real and as such, there was dire need to conduct diagnosis and subsequent treatment of the Veterans Administration as part and parcel of managing the aftermath of the negative impact of the Gulf War. Needless to say, most of the veteran soldiers were reported to have either demonstrated withdrawal syndrome or failed in their duties altogether.
Its manifestation
Gulf war syndrome was the original entity given to the condition of disease first observed among war martials who participated in manning the Persian Gulf region (Nelson & O’regan, 2007). This has been clearly put forward and elaborated as follows; soldiers started to complain in 1992 from a specific reserve unit situated at Indiana. It was noted that they complained of having headaches, hair loss, and pain in body joints, memory loss and ceaseless fatigue (Nelson & O’regan, 2007). This is classic and standard reporting of the way gulf war syndrome manifested itself among the soldiers. The observations from the claims of affected soldiers probed investigation by research bodies and it was discovered that the scourge was affecting the servicemen adversely. Most researchers from Britain noted that physical symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome were seen in victims’ heads (Kilshaw, 2008). Researchers from Britain strongly give evidence of the similar symptoms observed among American servicemen.
Gulf war ailments
In addition to the above dilemma which faced the veteran soldiers, it is worth mentioning that there were other myriad of health related manifestations that were encountered by these soldiers. For instance, it is worth noting that a group of soldiers who participated in the Gulf War and were apparently exposed to pesticides, bromide and pyridostigmine which had been mainly used to prevent insect-borne diseases earlier in 1991(Martin & Tribble, 2010). This effectively introduces the categorization of the attributes and characterizing features of the gulf war illness. The authors also point out that a lot of information given earlier about the Gulf War diseases was and has remained a myth. However it is eluded that the use of the above mentioned chemicals were playing a major role in the pathogenesis of the diseases behind the realization of many concerned authorities. For instance, the United States government could not by any means have identified the pathogenic effects of these environmental hazards in good time so that the soldiers in the war front could be secured from such devastating effects.
By declaring the mythical aspects of the Gulf War and the associated illness that accompanied the soldiers, it is worth noting there was need to carry out adequate ground work in order to safeguard the health of the soldiers who were in the war front. The fact that most of the war related health effects that most soldiers went through could be managed even to date, a lot of damage seems to have been done already bearing in mind that some of the effects are long terms and the families and close relatives of those soldiers who participated in the war are still traumatized to date. According to the arguments put forward by Hall (2009), there is a lot of vital and valid information that has been displayed by the author in regards to the war effects especially in terms of how this could be treated as an illness on its own. He does not ignorantly raise unnecessary questions. The drugs which were employed to fight the different illnesses that were noticed among gulf war servicemen were considered to have diverse side effects. The associated effects of these drugs also contributed to the theory of the Gulf War being treated as an illness bearing in mind that the unhealthy drugs compounded the already health complications which these soldiers were going through.
Risk factors
It is pointed out that Gulf War illness mental distress and exposure to poisonous chemicals put servicemen into high risk of traumatic stress disorder. The chances of falling into the trap of this disease were equally high for all soldiers and it is sufficiently explained here that the defense departments were on the right track when they started registering and monitoring ex-soldiers and all servicemen who had been involved in the Gulf War. According to the research by Durakovic (2007), the syndrome of the Gulf War also had a galaxy of effects to the servicemen’s spouses and family.
Anthrax vaccine
A stylistic design has been employed in later parts in analyzing the effects of the Gulf War on the heath of the soldiers. Of particular importance is the anthrax vaccine that was developed. This vaccine has been associated with gulf war illnesses since it was noted by the homeland security affairs department that at the Persian Gulf region it was rarely used. This emission of an important vaccine is believed to be a cause of many unexplained health conditions during and after the Persian Gulf War ( Rempfer, 2009).
Patient responses to treatment
A variety of weird and positive response behaviors was noted among victims who were under different therapeutic and interventional actions. Reardon & Factor (2008) notes that prazosin was approved for alleviating traumatic stress disorder signs and particularly nightmares. This drug had not shown any known side effects. It helped patients to get quality sleep including those who suffered hypertension. The article on this issue also reports that a good number gulf war veterans did not get used to the drug because of the lack self reporting behavior.
Pesticides
Parameters in the study show that insecticides mostly used in Saudi Arabia were methomyl, resmethrin, chlorpyrifos and pyrethroid (Institute of Medicine, 2003). It is proven here that though there were martials in many places during the war who received treatment for poisoning by pesticides at that time, information does not show pesticides being a cause of the illness, and the Defense department continued to track veterans to get proof of the claim that insecticide exposure could be a sound note linked with the predicaments of Gulf war illness(Institute of Medicine, 2003).