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Date: Sat, 15 Mar 97 20:31:17 -0800 (PST)
To: (Recipient list suppressed), Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] (by way of rond@on-ramp.ior.com (Ronald J. Davenport))
Subject: SLS: SNET: Gulf War Illness answers from infected Prof. (fwd)

<snip>
>>From: gnicimm@ix.netcom.com (Garth L. Nicolson)
>>Subject: gwvm Re: your comments on news article.
>
>>
>>Dear Tony, 
>>In answer to your question, Yes, apparently healthy adults can be infected
>by mycoplasmas, but you are correct in that immunocompromised individuals
>are at most risk. You are also correct in that the LA Times reporter took
>my comments out of context.  It's difficult to know how various members of
>my laboratory became infected.  For most, it was probably that they were
>techs or scientists working directly with the blood of vets with GWI
>(myself included).  Also, I could have become infected from my
>step-daughter.  The only exception is my GWI clerk.  Although he worked in
>an office, he has been in fairly close contact with many ODS vets over the
>last few years.  The infection that we found is an airborne infection found
>in vets whose immediately family members also have the signs and symptoms
>of GWI.  Thus not all ODS vets have this infection; in fact, only a subset
>have the mycoplasmal infection.  Those who have infection respond to
>multiple courses of antibiotics effective ag-
>>ainst mycoplasmal infections, including family members who respond just
>like the veterans.  The usual course is that they slowly recover, and when
>retested after their recovery, they are negative for the infection in their
>blood.  (They may have some residual infection deep inside the cells in
>their tissues, but we can no longer detect it in a blood sample.)  We have
>found unusual genes associated with the mycoplasmal infection, genes that
>SUGGEST (certainly not prove) that we might be dealing with an altered
>microorganism, perhaps a "weaponized" variant.  I have always stressed that
>these agents could have been endogenous and present in the Middle East.
>There are some suspicious aspects to this notion, such as the fact that the
>Iraqis had an extensive research program on mycoplasmas, employing hundreds
>of scientists in two special units at the Universities of Baghdad and the
>Basra.  Many of the scientists in these units were trained in the US at our
>government laboratories.  !
>>About a year ago, the head of one of these laboratories, Prof. Al-
>> did the US Commerce Dept. place an administrative hold on the transfer of
>"altered" mycoplasmas just before the Gulf War?
>>
>>What appeared in the LA Times was not new information.  We have published
>the results of our studies in 6 peer-reviewed medical publications over the
>last year or so, and other news articles have appeared on this subject.  I
>think that what increased the visibility of the LA Times story was that the
>author was superficial and alarmist in his approach, and the fact that it
>appeared on the front page.  I always tell reporters that I am willing to
>proof read their articles for accuracy but few take me up on it.  This is
>one of the problems in dealing with the press.  They quickly write their
>stories and send them to press, and then they are off on another completely
>different story.  Copy editors can't deal with the technical aspects of the
>stories, so they just correct the obvious errors.  In my approximately 30
>years as a scientist, professor and educator in Medical and Graduate
>Schools, I still can't seem to get reporters to do exactly what I want.
>They are a very independent!
>> breed--at least the good ones.  I have never held a press conference in
>my life--they have to come to me to get any information.  It seems our
>patients are their best sources.  If the patients that we helped were not
>recovering and speaking about their experiences, they would, I suspect,
>never show up.  It is not by accident that I was made an Honorary COLONEL
>of the Special Forces last year.  The 3rd and 5th SF needed help, and we
>provided what we could.  (I probably unfairly ask my detractors why I
>received this honor, not them.  It only came about because we had something
>that we could do to help, and we had the guts to disregard the 'political
>correctness' of the medical and scientific establishment and go against
>conventional wisdom at great personal loss.)
>>
>>It is a fact that we receive about 1-2 calls per day from health care
>professionals who now have the signs and symptoms of GWI, and we have been
>receiving them steadily for some time now.  I just got off the phone with a
>nurse from the Long Beach, CA VAMC who deals with GWI patients.  He is sick
>with GWI and would like to know where he can get help.  He certainly can't
>get any help from the VA system.  Another VA nurse I talked to yesterday
>was involved in PTSD therapy, and is now ashamed and sick with GWI.  She
>said she was ashamed, because she knew that the vets had medical not mental
>illnesses.  But she went along with the program, because she did not want
>to lose her job.  I also talked to a COL at the War College who is sick
>with GWI as is his wife.  As it turns out, most of his officers from ODS
>have come to us for help, and their wives and children are also sick.  Our
>patients come from all the services and all grades from PFC to two stars.
>(Yes, even the LTG can't see!
>>m to get help on this problem.) This is where we come in.  At no cost to
>the patient, we analyze their blood, provide documents on the condition,
>counseling if necessary on where they can get help, and, of course,
>treatment recommendations.  This is all done through donations.  We have
>never made a dime on our GWI research.  Quite the contrary, it has almost
>completely depleted my personal funds, but it is certainly worth it to help
>our veterans who have been placed in harms way.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>Prof. Garth Nicolson
>>CSO, Institute for Molecular Medicine (a nonprofit institution)
>
>-> Send "subscribe   snetnews " to majordomo@world.std.com
>->  Posted by: tfs@adc.com (Tony F Sgarlatti)
>
>

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Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S.    : Counselor at Law, federal witness
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