Gulf War Illness

The political will to explore possible infectious causes of Gulf War illness is tempered by concerns of revealing aspects of the nation’s biological weapons program. "We can throw money at clinicians walking up and down the wards without having to be worried about anyone encroaching upon our secrets," admitted one Department of Defense official. Another official boldly stated "We will not let one stone go unturned." His message changed when, nearing retirement, he sadly confessed "You can’t do anything here in Washington without someone looking over your shoulder prepared to pull the plug." Dis-spirited individuals perceive an oppressive political ceiling imposed by a money and influence driven Congress intent mainly on survival of its members.

Politicians and their appointed "experts" should be confronted with the following research findings:

Atypical cytopathic "stealth-adapted" viruses have been cultured from blood samples received from veterans diagnosed as having Gulf War illness. Positive cultures have also been obtained from their family members, many of whom have also become sick.

Stealth-adapted viruses are currently being introduced into the Nation’s blood supply and were probably present in the gamma globulin shots routinely received by deployed personnel. It is known that the processing of gamma globulin at that time was insufficient even to inactivate hepatitis C virus.

Stealth-adapted viruses can contain both viral and bacterial sequences. These novel life forms have been termed "viteria." Efforts to produce chimeric viral-bacterial agents were presumptively undertaken by the military and may have set the stage for the evolution of viteria.

The son of a married physician couple who served in the Gulf War developed a neurological illness. Both parents had begun to experience depression, personality changes and fatigue resulting in disruption of their marriage. For over seven months, the child’s abnormal behavior was attributed to his "acting-out" in response to his parent’s impending divorce. Even when organic disease was identified, a routine neurological examination was essentially normal. Both MRI and two subsequent brain biopsies were grossly abnormal. Both mother and child were stealth virus culture positive. The child showed a partial response to anti-viral therapy but subsequently died from cerebral herniation.

Stealth viruses have been cultured from veterans with malignant diseases, including a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer. This individual also experienced the gradual deterioration of his personality leading to marital separation more than a year before the tumor was discovered.

Stealth-adapted viruses can induce neurological illness in cats and these agents are likely to be infectious for both domestic and farm animals.

As a colleague once said, "You have proved your point, John; its up to them to disprove you, but they would rather simply avoid the issue and hope you will go away." Not being able to do that, CCID is intent on pursuing its interest in stealth viruses as a cause for the Gulf War illness. We are encouraged by the finding that the replication of a prototype stealth virus is probably being driven by cell migration regulatory molecules termed "chemokines". A listing of various herbal and proprietary medicines that can inhibit one or more of the complex stages leading to chemokine production has been developed. It is envisioned that knowledgeable clinicians would choose various combinations of agents from this list for potential therapy in stealth virus infected patients. Stealth virus cultures would be performed before, and 7-10 days after, therapy was begun. If significant suppression of viral activity is observed, the treatment would be continued, along with detailed clinical assessments. If no effect was seen, the protocol could be adjusted by adding additional drugs and/or substituting medicines.

Gulf War veterans and their clinicians are asked to review the listing of potential treatments and to contact CCID by phone at (626) 572-7288 or by e-mail to ccidlab@hotmail.com for scheduling stealth virus testing.