WASHINGTON, DC .-- A major trial has found no evidence that antibiotics help patients with disease the Gulf war. In addition, the study results suggest $ 6 million that the underlying assumption - that a microbe causes the mysterious set of complaints - is false
Eleven years after the Gulf War, researchers are still not clear exactly what. is behind the fatigue, muscle and joint pain, rashes, memory loss, attention problems, and other symptoms that afflict veterans - let alone how to treat them. Nevertheless, Congress pressure and pressure groups of veterans led the Department of Veterans Affairs to study two possible treatment plans. One, a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise, has effects very moderate, a recent article showed ( Science , 28 March, p. 1966).
The second trial, presented here on May 20 at the American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, was based on the controversial idea that the problems of veterans of the Gulf War are caused by bacteria called Mycoplasma fermentans . Sam Donta and colleagues from Boston University in 1421 enlisted former patients fighters. About 40% tested positive for the presence of microbes in the blood, an infection rate of around eight times higher than in the general population, but comparable with the figures observed in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome - another disease for which a certain expectation Mycoplasma responsible. The team gave 491 patients who tested positive either doxycycline or a placebo for a full year and tracked their health.
Three months after the study, the doxycycline group fared slightly better than placebo, but after that, the difference evaporated Donta reported, dashing any hopes that the drug could help . In addition, patients in both groups appeared to clear the insects from their blood, even if they do not get better. This suggests that Mycoplasma is a bit more of a lure, says Donta.
The main proponent of the theory Mycoplasma Garth Nicolson, director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, California, rejected the findings. Blood samples showed that many participants did not accurately take their pills, he said, so the data is not very significant; and the absence of microbes later in the trial is atypical and "suspect", he added. But Simon Wessely of the Unit's disease research at Guy Gulf War, King and St Thomas' Hospital in London, said the trial confirms that Mycoplasma has little to do with veterinary symptoms. "In my case, this chapter is now closed," says Wessely.
Related Sites
The study design
The Mycoplasma theory, explained by the Institute of molecular medicine
Summary of therapy and exercise cognitive behavioral study in Journal of the American medical Association
American Society for General Microbiology meeting
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