China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Abnormal Personality in Functional Somatic Syndromes
Published in Peter Manu, The Psychopathology of Functional Somatic Syndromes, 2020
The authors obtained from the Department of Defense the list of veterans from the states of Oregon and Washington deployed to the Persian Gulf from September 1990 through August 1991. Questionnaires regarding exposure to hazards and the presence of symptoms were mailed to a random sample of 2,022 veterans, and usable answers were received from 1,119. To qualify as a case of Gulf War syndrome, the veterans had to have at least one of the following symptoms: fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, skin lesions, and psychological or cognitive complaints. These symptoms had to have no medical explanation; start during or after deployment to the Persian Gulf theater of military operations; persist for at least one month; and be present during the three months immediately preceding recruitment into the study.
Veterans’ Health
Published in James Matheson, John Patterson, Laura Neilson, Tackling Causes and Consequences of Health Inequalities, 2020
Around 7,000 service personnel who served in the 1990–1991 Gulf War conflict are in receipt of war pensions or other assistance due to a variety of injuries or illnesses causally linked to the conflict. These conditions have been grouped under the term ‘Gulf War Syndrome’. This represents about 13% of the personnel deployed during the conflict. Interestingly, there is no current evidence in the UK of a new Gulf War Syndrome arising from more recent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, although there is a rise in post-conflict psychiatric disorders being reported in the USA [14].
Suffering
Published in Raymond Downing, Suffering and Healing in America, 2018
What our culture doesn’t seem to understand is that suffering is a part of life, a ‘natural’ part of life, not an aberration that always needs to be eliminated. The debate about the Gulf War ‘syndrome’ illustrates this. Interviews with veterans of the first Gulf War have apparently shown that they have significantly more physical symptoms (such as headache, joint pains, memory lapses) than people in the armed services who did not go to the Gulf. This has led to a search for a toxin used against them – a chemical or biological weapon – but none has been proven. A footnote to the National Public Radio news story was that veterans of all wars have more physical symptoms than recruits who do not fight.
Evaluation of a Military Informed Care Training with Private Sector Healthcare Providers
Published in Military Behavioral Health, 2022
Elisa Borah, Valerie Rosen, Jessica Fink, Christopher Paine
Deployment-related stressors are much different from civilian stressors; they can include being in a foreign land, exposure to trauma, combat-related injuries or the threat of injury, and exposure to toxic agents (Coll et al., 2011). Military specific exposures should be considered as important military health history during assessment and, if possible, addressed in care plans. These exposures may include receipt of vaccinations, use of or exposure to chemical and biological weapons, radiation-related diseases, toxic embedded fragments from shrapnel injuries, amputations, traumatic brain injuries, and chronic pain. Specific war era morbidities are also important to recognize and assess for. These are often specific to combat theater regions or due to specific weapons or operational approaches used. For example, veterans deployed in support of named operations across Southwest Asia and Afghanistan may contract Gulf War Syndrome or chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia. They may be exposed to infectious diseases such as malaria, brucellosis, shigella, West Nile Virus; and may have exposure to oil well fires, depleted uranium, and sand and dust particles leading to respiratory complications. The National Academy of Sciences (2018) summarized how significantly Agent Orange was related to many health issues in Vietnam Veterans and their offspring. Post-9/11 veterans were exposed to burn pits and depleted uranium (Waszak & Holmes, 2017.) Veterans of all war eras may present with mental illness including PTSD, depression, and substance abuse related to traumatic exposures they may have faced (Hobbs, 2008).
Atypical Optic Neuritis After Inactivated Influenza Vaccination
Published in Neuro-Ophthalmology, 2018
Bokkwan Jun, Frederick W. Fraunfelder
The exact pathophysiologic mechanism of post-vaccination optic neuritis is not clearly defined. It could be triggered by a common denominator such as an adjuvant14 used in the vaccine to enhance the antigen-specific immune response, which perhaps induces the release of inflammatory cytokines and interacts with Toll-like receptors and NLRP (NOD-like receptor protein) inflammasomes. Post-vaccination optic neuritis and other post-vaccination autoimmune phenomena could be understood as among the autoimmune/inflammatory clinical syndromes induced by adjuvants (ASIA),15 which include macrophagic myofasciitis, Gulf War syndrome, siliconosis, and other post-vaccination phenomena. Post-vaccination autoimmune responses are characterised by hyperactive immune responses to a common pathogenic denominator and accompanied by a similar complex of signs and symptoms. However, with some vaccines, the weakened or inactivated virus stimulates a strong immune response so no additional adjuvant is needed for protection against infection. In the United States, most vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, rotavirus, polio, and seasonal influenza do not contain added adjuvants. In 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first seasonal influenza vaccine containing adjuvant. Called FLUAD, this trivalent vaccine is produced from three influenza virus strains (two subtypes A and one type B), is manufactured using an egg-based process, and is formulated with the adjuvant MF59, an oil-in-water emulsion of squalene oil. It might be interesting to observe as data accumulate on this vaccine if it is associated with an increased occurrence of post–influenza vaccination autoimmune clinical syndromes, including optic neuritis.
SARS-CoV-2 the ASIA virus (Autoimmune/autoinflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants), the risk of infertility and vaccine hesitancy
Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2022
In 2011, Shoenfeld and colleagues proposed the existence of the Autoimmune/ autoinflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants (ASIA) caused by vaccine adjuvants, viruses, silicone in breast implants, etc. (Figure 1) [43]. The spectrum of disorders included in ASIA was very broad and included autoimmunity, sick building syndrome, siliconosis, Gulf War syndrome, and macrophagic myositis syndrome [44]. Subsequently, the disorder was expanded to include Sjogren’s syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disorders, narcolepsy, and lymphoma.