[RedWhiteBlue]

still suffering from fatigue, memory loss, and other medical problems.

The lingering symptoms bear a resemblance to "Gulf War Syndrome." My niece's husband came back fromt the war with it, and still has it. Interestingly enough, one of the drugs he was given at a VA hospital to treat Gulf War Syndrome was Cipro.

[Mitchell]

The lingering symptoms bear a resemblance to "Gulf War Syndrome." My niece's husband came back from the war with it, and still has it.

This is fascinating. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas did extensive research on Gulf War Syndrome. Here's a link to their press release: UT Southwestern team traces Gulf War illnesses to chemicals: Three primary syndromes identified.

According to this study (my emphases):

By conducting an exhaustive series of epidemiological and clinical studies on veterans from a U.S. Navy reserve unit, the UT Southwestern researchers identified a syndrome characterized by thought, memory and sleep difficulties; a second syndrome that involves more severe thought problems as well as confusion and imbalance; and a third syndrome of sore joints and muscles and tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.

The researchers determined that the syndromes can be traced to the use of flea collars, insect repellant and anti-nerve gas pills, as well as exposure to chemical nerve agents. The syndromes are variants of a rare disorder called organophosphate-induced delayed polyneuropathy, which is caused by exposure to certain chemicals that inhibit cholinesterase, an enzyme important to nervous system function.

The symptoms described certainly sound similar to those experienced by the inhalation anthrax survivors in the Northeast. (I don't know if UT's identification of the cause has been widely accepted or not.)

The following are the natural questions I'd like to ask:

1. Have the anthrax powder samples (from the anthrax mailings) been tested for cholinesterase inhibitors or other chemical agents? Maybe it was a combined biological/chemical attack. (The Palestinians sometimes include rat poison in their bombs.)
2. Alternatively, could this be a lingering effect of some forms of anthrax? Could Gulf War syndrome have been caused by anthrax vaccine or by exposure to low levels of anthrax (or weakened anthrax), resulting in subclinical symptoms?