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Gulf War Illnesses

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Don Touhig) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. A key principle of the Government's approach to addressing the health concerns of veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict is that there should be appropriate research into veterans' illnesses and factors that may have a bearing on these. The Ministry of Defence has funded a study by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control into the particular interaction of anthrax and pertussis vaccines in mice. The study is part of a wider programme of research into vaccines interactions, which has been overseen by an independent panel of experts. A paper reporting the final results of the study was published in the online version of the journal Human Vaccines on 14 July 2005 in advance of hard-copy publication in the August/September edition of the journal. In brief, the researchers report that, in mice, pertussis vaccine, vaccine combinations, or aluminium salt caused illness; anthrax vaccine produced little effect; diluted vaccine combinations produced less serious side effects of shorter duration; and pertussis vaccines act as an adjuvant for anthrax vaccine. As the researchers point out, caution should be exercised in applying these results to humans because of the relatively high dosage used in the tests and the very different sensitivity to these vaccines in mice and humans. This work represents a further step towards meeting the department's commitment to investigate these issues. A full summary of the findings is freely available on the journal website and via a link on the MoD website at www.mod.uk/issues/gulfwar/whats–new.htm.