Gulf war symptoms do not constitute a syndrome

The unexplained symptoms that afflict thousands of veterans of the Gulf war do not constitute a syndrome, a study from the US Institute of Medicine, published on 12 September, has found.

US experts say that veterans, such as Major Randy Hebert, seen here testifying to Congress, suffered ill health but their symptoms did not amount to a syndrome

Credit: DENNIS COOK/AP/EMPICS

At the behest of Congress, the US Department of Veterans Affairs commissioned the Institute of Medicine to do the study. …