
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 22, 1994                   TAG: 9401220128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

VETS TO GET DISABILITY FOR GULF SYNDROME

Although the cause of pain, headaches and fatigue plaguing some Persian Gulf War veterans remains a mystery, officials said Friday they hope to create guidelines by summer that would enable these vets to qualify for disability benefits.

Officials from the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health will meet in May to try to develop diagnostic guidelines for what has become known as "Persian Gulf syndrome."

Once that's done, benefits could start flowing to veterans "who can be shown to have that type of illness and associate that with their period of military service," said Dr. Robert Roswell, chief of staff at the VA medical center in Birmingham, Ala.

Roswell will direct the Persian Gulf Veterans Coordinating Board, established Friday to coordinate research into the unexplained ailments, medical treatment and the dissemination of information among the VA, the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.

by CNB