Mycoplasma fermentans is suspected in the development of ‘Gulf War illness’ in veterans of
Operation Desert Storm. We conducted a matched case-control study for the prevalence of M.
fermentans-specific antibodies before and after the operation, as well as seroconversion rates in
veterans with and without complaints of ‘Gulf War illness’. Cases consisted of Gulf War
veterans, who complained of various illnesses and were enrolled in the second phase of the
health evaluation by the Army Comprehensive Clinical Examination Program (CCEP).
Controls were selected from Gulf War veterans who did not participate in the registry and
did not request a health evaluation by the CCEP. Before operation deployment, 34 out of
718 of the cases (4·8%) and 116 out of 2233 of the controls (5·2%) tested positive for
M. fermentans-specific antibodies. There was no difference in rates of seroconversion between
cases and controls (1·1 vs. 1·2%) to M. fermentans during Operation Desert Storm. Thus,
there is no serological evidence that suggests infection by M. fermentans is associated with
development of ‘Gulf War illness’.
Butyrylcholinesterase genotype and enzyme activity in relation to Gulf War illness: preliminary evidence of gene-exposure interaction from a case–control study of 1991 Gulf War veterans