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American Morning
New Research May Provide Clues to Gulf War Illness
Aired December 23, 2002 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some new research may provide some more clues to the mysterious illnesses of Persian Gulf War veterans.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from Atlanta with more.
Good morning, doctor.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
It is a mysterious illness, and one of the more controversial illness since 1991, after the last 10 years or so, Gulf War Illness. Sort of lots of different symptoms veterans have complained about since that war. A lot of people blamed it on stress, and other researchers said not so fast. It could be more than that.
If you look at the Pentagon Web site, they will have this quote on there talking about current Gulf War illness: "Current medical evidence indicates that the long-term health problems -- they're talking about sarin gas -- "are not likely."
But could low levels of sarin gas actually cause some of the symptoms associated with Gulf War illness? Before we tell you that, let's take a quick look at what those symptoms of Gulf War syndrome actually are, all sorts of different things -- fatigue, diarrhea, migraines, dizziness, memory problems, loss of problems -- very debilitating symptoms in some people, Paula.
Low levels of sarin gas have been implicated in some of these cases, and there is now some research actually from some Army- sponsored studies looking at low-level sarin gas and its effect on guinea pigs, quite literally guinea pigs and mice. Now, obviously not human beings, but looking at guinea pigs and mice, they developed a whole host of problems even a month out after exposure, but very similar to the ones seen in human beings, problems with the organ function, problems with immune function, problems with behavioral problems.
Paula, this is yet another study among the countless others probably adding some fuel to this debate. Could low levels of sarin gas cause the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome? The answer is still not known. Yet another story about that -- Paula.
ZAHN: So help us better understand what impact low levels of sarin gas would have on the body. What happens first?
GUPTA: What they think basically, Paula, is that this sarin gas, even this levels of sarin gas, actually effect a particular enzyme in the brain. The enzyme is called cedocolonestrate (ph). The name is not that important, but what this appears to do is actually make it very difficult for neurotransmission, actually firing the neuron cells from cell to cell to actually occur well, and that can affect the immune process, it can effect the behavioral problems; it can effect different organ function. It's a very general sort of effect on the body, and that's probably why it's been so difficult to pinpoint, but that at least a proposed mechanism of why sarin gas, which we're hearing a lot more about, incidentally, as of late, could possibly have on the body.
ZAHN: Let's change the subject to schizophrenia. I know you are really interested in this, and I guess one in 10 people who have schizophrenia end up committing suicide. There is good news on the horizon?
GUPTA: There is. some good news, Paula. We don't talk about typically medications to treat suicidal behavior. That is until now. In fact, there is a new drug, Closophine (ph), that has actually received federal approval to be the first drug actually being used to treat suicidal behavior. Exactly as you said, Paula, Closophine (ph) has long been known to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia. Let's take a look at some of those symptoms of schizophrenia that people might have -- delusions, hallucinations -- we've seen all these symptoms before -- disordered thinking, lots of different symptoms there.
But, Paula, schizophrenia and suicide are sort of inextricably linked. One in ten schizophrenic patients will actually kill themselves -- one in ten, 10 percent of people. And one in two people will make a significant suicidal gesture, meaning they'll actually try and kill themselves.
So the question longstanding has been, if you can adequately treat schizophrenia, could you adequately treat suicide, or better treat suicide? And the answer, at least according to the federal approval process, people who approved this new medication, say yes.
Now let's take a look at the study. They actually gave Closophine (ph) to about 980 people -- actually 490 got the Closophine (ph), 490 got something else, and they found that these schizophrenics had a hundred times greater suicide risk. If they got the medications that's been recently approved, fewer suicide attempts, significantly fewer suicide attempts, and fewer hospitalizations. Paula, that has a lot of people excited that we may be on right the path with this already approved drug to possibly treat suicide.
And when we talk so much about depression, anxiety during the holiday season. It's really important to remember those things during the holiday season as well -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you for the update. You had to cover a lot of territory for this us this morning. Appreciate it, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 23, 2002 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some new research may provide some more clues to the mysterious illnesses of Persian Gulf War veterans.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from Atlanta with more.
Good morning, doctor.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
It is a mysterious illness, and one of the more controversial illness since 1991, after the last 10 years or so, Gulf War Illness. Sort of lots of different symptoms veterans have complained about since that war. A lot of people blamed it on stress, and other researchers said not so fast. It could be more than that.
If you look at the Pentagon Web site, they will have this quote on there talking about current Gulf War illness: "Current medical evidence indicates that the long-term health problems -- they're talking about sarin gas -- "are not likely."
But could low levels of sarin gas actually cause some of the symptoms associated with Gulf War illness? Before we tell you that, let's take a quick look at what those symptoms of Gulf War syndrome actually are, all sorts of different things -- fatigue, diarrhea, migraines, dizziness, memory problems, loss of problems -- very debilitating symptoms in some people, Paula.
Low levels of sarin gas have been implicated in some of these cases, and there is now some research actually from some Army- sponsored studies looking at low-level sarin gas and its effect on guinea pigs, quite literally guinea pigs and mice. Now, obviously not human beings, but looking at guinea pigs and mice, they developed a whole host of problems even a month out after exposure, but very similar to the ones seen in human beings, problems with the organ function, problems with immune function, problems with behavioral problems.
Paula, this is yet another study among the countless others probably adding some fuel to this debate. Could low levels of sarin gas cause the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome? The answer is still not known. Yet another story about that -- Paula.
ZAHN: So help us better understand what impact low levels of sarin gas would have on the body. What happens first?
GUPTA: What they think basically, Paula, is that this sarin gas, even this levels of sarin gas, actually effect a particular enzyme in the brain. The enzyme is called cedocolonestrate (ph). The name is not that important, but what this appears to do is actually make it very difficult for neurotransmission, actually firing the neuron cells from cell to cell to actually occur well, and that can affect the immune process, it can effect the behavioral problems; it can effect different organ function. It's a very general sort of effect on the body, and that's probably why it's been so difficult to pinpoint, but that at least a proposed mechanism of why sarin gas, which we're hearing a lot more about, incidentally, as of late, could possibly have on the body.
ZAHN: Let's change the subject to schizophrenia. I know you are really interested in this, and I guess one in 10 people who have schizophrenia end up committing suicide. There is good news on the horizon?
GUPTA: There is. some good news, Paula. We don't talk about typically medications to treat suicidal behavior. That is until now. In fact, there is a new drug, Closophine (ph), that has actually received federal approval to be the first drug actually being used to treat suicidal behavior. Exactly as you said, Paula, Closophine (ph) has long been known to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia. Let's take a look at some of those symptoms of schizophrenia that people might have -- delusions, hallucinations -- we've seen all these symptoms before -- disordered thinking, lots of different symptoms there.
But, Paula, schizophrenia and suicide are sort of inextricably linked. One in ten schizophrenic patients will actually kill themselves -- one in ten, 10 percent of people. And one in two people will make a significant suicidal gesture, meaning they'll actually try and kill themselves.
So the question longstanding has been, if you can adequately treat schizophrenia, could you adequately treat suicide, or better treat suicide? And the answer, at least according to the federal approval process, people who approved this new medication, say yes.
Now let's take a look at the study. They actually gave Closophine (ph) to about 980 people -- actually 490 got the Closophine (ph), 490 got something else, and they found that these schizophrenics had a hundred times greater suicide risk. If they got the medications that's been recently approved, fewer suicide attempts, significantly fewer suicide attempts, and fewer hospitalizations. Paula, that has a lot of people excited that we may be on right the path with this already approved drug to possibly treat suicide.
And when we talk so much about depression, anxiety during the holiday season. It's really important to remember those things during the holiday season as well -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you for the update. You had to cover a lot of territory for this us this morning. Appreciate it, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
