Gulf War Syndrome May Be Contagious, Survey Shows : Health: Results of government study find significant numbers of veterans’ spouses, children exhibiting symptoms of the mysterious illnesses.

Preliminary results from a new survey have raised suspicions that the mysterious illnesses that have afflicted more than 20,000 Persian Gulf War veterans since their return home may be contagious, Senate sources said Thursday.

Responses from the first 400 of a planned 1,000 servicemen and women to be polled has found that some of the symptoms, known collectively as Gulf War syndrome, also have affected 78% of their spouses and 25% of their children who were born before the 1991 operation, according to an aide to Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which is conducting the study.

Also, of those responding, 65% of children born after the veterans’ return are suffering chronic health problems, said the committee official, who declined to be identified.

“It could be the result of a virus or bacteria” acquired in the gulf, “or it is possible that some chemical exposure could have depressed their (the veterans’) immune systems” making it easier to become infected with an organism and, subsequently, to transmit that organism to a family member, he said.

Of the children affected, those born after the war appear to be suffering from chronic infections, including respiratory, yeast, sinus, ear and others, he said.

“These children are being born with these infections,” he said, which is puzzling because “they’re in a sterile environment until and when they are born.”

Department of Defense officials said they are aware that family members also have become sick but insisted that they have not yet been able to find a scientific link to Gulf War participation.

“We are aware of these complaints,” said Col. Doug Hart, a Pentagon spokesman. “We don’t take them lightly. But at this point we have not been able to establish a scientific link--we cannot come to any conclusion that they are, or are not, related.”

Bob Howard, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is working with the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department, said that “we do not have a definitive infectious agent linked to birth defects or illness in the veterans or their family members,” although the possibility has not been ruled out.

“We don’t want to make any snap decisions or quick judgments,” Howard added.

An estimated 20,000 or more of the nearly 700,000 troops who served in the Persian Gulf four years ago have reported numerous ailments, including fatigue, skin rashes, muscle and joint pain, headaches, memory loss, shortness of breath and gastrointestinal problems.

Their complaints have prompted a series of investigations that thus far have yielded no definitive conclusions.

The Banking Committee study--which is not expected to be completed until the end of the year--asks both veterans and spouses a series of questions about symptoms that they have experienced or have seen in their offspring.

“We even threw in a couple of ‘ringers’ (questions about symptoms that are not among those considered part of the syndrome),” the Riegle aide said, and the responses thus far have been consistent, meaning that no one claims to be suffering from ailments that have not been among those previously reported.

He said the responses received thus far indicate that spouses and children born before the war are experiencing some--but not all--of the symptoms that have afflicted the veterans.

“They will have 3 or 4 or 5 of them, whereas the vet may have 18,” he said.

He emphasized that the committee survey is not intended to “be a medical study,” but “to prompt a medical study.”

“Unless a preliminary investigation is done, a medical investigation will never be done,” he added. “We want to put some hard numbers in front of the medical community and say: ‘Hey, we’ve got to deal with this.’ ”

Hart said the Pentagon also is conducting a survey of 700,000 individuals, half of whom served in the gulf and, for comparison purposes, half of whom did not to “see if there are any statistically significant differences” in their health status.

No single substance or organism has been identified as the cause of the health problems suffered by Desert Storm veterans. But many of the troops were exposed to a variety of potentially toxic chemicals, such as fumes and smoke from oil well fires, diesel fumes, toxic paints, pesticides and depleted uranium used in munitions and armor. They were also given three drugs, including one to prevent the effects of chemical warfare, which many have blamed on their health problems.

The drugs given soldiers included pyridostigmine bromide, a drug to protect against chemical warfare, which has known gastrointestinal side effects and which is licensed only for the treatment of myasthenia gravis, a chronic muscle weakness disorder; an as yet unapproved vaccine to combat botulism, and a licensed vaccine to protect against anthrax.

None of the three are being administered to soldiers serving in the current deployment.