[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 30 (Thursday, March 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            CARING FOR THE VETERANS OF THE PERSIAN GULF WAR

  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield in the 
Persian Gulf ended over 3 years ago, but many of the military men and 
women who served in that conflict are still suffering from the 
consequences of their service.
  One of the diseases that military doctors have successfully diagnosed 
in a small number of Persian Gulf veterans is a parasitic disease 
called leishmaniasis. This disease can be contracted through the bites 
of sand flies found in the desert of southwest Asia, and attacks the 
immune and nervous systems of its victims. In the January 31 edition of 
Army Times newspaper, author George Wilson had a column about the 
courageous struggle of Army Captain Marcus Nerone, who is battling 
leishmaniasis with the help of Army doctors at Walter Reed hospital. I 
ask unanimous consent that George Wilson's article be included in the 
Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  Unfortunately, leishmaniasis is not the only ailment affecting many 
of the men and women who served in the Persian Gulf conflict. Within a 
year after the end of the war, some veterans began suffering from a 
mystery illness, the symptoms of which include joint pain, fatigue, 
headaches, decreased short term memory, rashes, painful burning 
muscles, and sleep disorders. While individually these symptoms are 
common to many illnesses, so far doctors have been unable to identify 
the cause of what has been termed Persian Gulf syndrome.
  Mr. President, we must do everything possible to properly diagnose 
and treat the Persian Gulf syndrome. We must not let what George Wilson 
calls ``bureaucratic insensitivity'' get in the way of providing the 
medical care that the veterans of the Persian Gulf conflict need and 
deserve.
  The Force Requirements and Personnel Subcommittee of the Armed 
Services Committee under the capable leadership of its chairman Senator 
Shelby has been very aggressive in investigating the possible causes of 
the Persian Gulf syndrome and in insuring that the Defense Department 
medical establishment gives this problem the highest priority. In the 
course of his investigation, Senator Shelby has traveled to Europe and 
to the Middle East to meet with our coalition allies to look at their 
experience in diagnosing and treating the medical problems of their 
veterans, and to enlist their help in combating this illusive disease.
  Mr. President, I want to assure the Members of the Senate--and the 
men and women who served in the Persian Gulf and their families--that 
the Armed Services Committee remains totally committed to insuring that 
the medical needs of all of those who served in the Persian Gulf 
conflict are met.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [From the Army Times, Jan. 31, 1994]

              Curing What Ails Him and Other Gulf War Vets

                         (By George C. Wilson)

       High in the reaches of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a 
     brave and caring soldier is fighting for his life against an 
     enemy that may have infiltrated the bodies of thousands of 
     other veterans of Operation Desert Storm without their 
     knowing it.
       Army Capt. Marcus Nerone, a strapping 35-year-old who 
     started his career in 1981 as a private first class and 
     believes there is no more noble title than soldier, is 
     infested with tiny parasites that were injected into his body 
     when a sand fly on the Saudi Arabian desert bit him.
       Nobody knows much about this parasitic disease called 
     leishmaniasis. Doctors do know that anybody can get it if 
     bitten by the sand flies found in Saudi Arabia, and that the 
     poison ejected by the parasites can kill you by destroying 
     your immune and nervous systems.
       What doctors do not know is how many Desert Storm veterans 
     have the disease, how to quickly detect the disease--which 
     can take years to reveal itself--or how to kill the parasites 
     and cure their victims.
       Nerone fears that many service men and women who served in 
     the Persian Gulf are battling against some of the same 
     symptoms he had--inexplicable fatigue, stomach cramps, 
     diarrhea, night sweats, sleeplessness, sores, numbness--
     without realizing the cause is progressive poisoning by tiny 
     parasites.
       He apparently got bitten by a fly while serving in the 
     Saudi desert west of Jabal as an intelligence officer with 
     the 197th Infantry Brigade out of Forth Benning, GA. The 
     brigade, like so many other outfits, slept in foxholes and 
     tents where they were constantly exposed to flies and 
     rodents. Nerone does not remember getting bitten but said it 
     could have happened almost any time or anywhere while he was 
     in Saudi Arabia.
       Back at Benning after the war, Nerone tried to ignore the 
     fatigue and other symptoms and make good on his new job as 
     commander of the headquarters infantry company at the base. 
     But leishmaniasis--undetected by the hospital at Benning 
     despite dozens of tests for cancer and other ailments--
     eventually overwhelmed him. Dr. William Yost at Benning 
     consulted with Dr. Alan J. Magill, an infectious disease 
     specialist at Walter Reed. Magill discovered the 
     leishmaniasis after Nerone was admitted to Walter Reed.
       When an Army friend urged me to join him in visiting Nerone 
     at the hospital, I expected to see a sick, dispirited man 
     lying in bed with tubes sticking out all over. Instead, I 
     found a vigorous, 6-foot-4 soldier with a booming voice and 
     laugh who considered himself a lucky man with an important 
     mission--even though he knew full well that leishmaniasis 
     might kill him.
       ```How can you say you're lucky?' people ask me. Well, I'm 
     getting great care. But for every guy like me, there could be 
     hundreds out there--many no longer in the Army--just out 
     there with no support. Sure, I want to get better. But if 
     there's something I can do to help someone else, I'll do 
     it.''
       Nerone has volunteered himself as a guinea pig to such an 
     extent that the other day he asked a nurse, ``When are they 
     going to put the wheel in my room?'' He has donated blood to 
     the National Institutes of Health for study; consented to 
     painful bone marrow extractions and, most risky, authorized 
     the intravenous feeding of experimental chemicals into his 
     veins for seven hours at a time.
       Doctors believe he is the first person to be given the 
     powerful toxin, amphotericin B, for leishmaniasis. The idea 
     is to outpoison the parasites, killing them but not Nerone. 
     The chemical leaves the patient feeling so terrible that the 
     nickname for it is ampho-terrible.
       ``I already know of one NCO with the disease who is sitting 
     home waiting to see if this works,'' said Nerone of the 
     chemotherapy experiment. The empathetic captain--son of 
     retired infantry Col. Si Nerone--said the Walter Reed 
     environment has given him a new appreciation for life and 
     made it impossible to feel sorry for himself.
       ``The other day I was downstairs getting an illegal cup of 
     coffee when a woman with no legs wheeled in. It made me ask 
     of myself, `What are you complaining about?'''
       Nerone said he has learned from his stay at Walter Reed how 
     precious but transitory life is and that the military family 
     is real, as evidenced by all the support he has received 
     inside and outside the hospital.
       As Nerone continued with his upbeat account of his struggle 
     against an enemy he cannot see, I thought of all the Vietnam 
     War veterans who had showed me their rashes and described 
     other ailments they attributed to being exposed to Agent 
     Orange. The vets told me how angry and dispirited they felt 
     when Department of Veterans Affairs officials and doctors 
     dismissed their complaints and accused them of being 
     malingerers.
       I wondered while at Nerone's bedside, and wonder still, 
     whether military and political leaders will be as insensitive 
     toward Persian Gulf diseases like leishmaniasis as they were 
     toward Agent Orange. We do not need another long, 
     disgraceful, hurtful bureaucratic tap dance like we had on 
     Agent Orange.
       I did not have to ask the Persian Gulf vet on the bed if he 
     shared my fears about bureaucratic insensitivity, perhaps 
     getting him in trouble with superiors since he is still on 
     active duty. What Nerone is doing speaks louder than any 
     words to his concern for other casualties of Desert Storm and 
     to his commitment to help get them well. The bureaucrats, and 
     the rest of us, can learn something from Capt. Marcus Nerone.

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