‘US combat troops returning from Iraq face major health peril’ [View All]

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http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2005/August/focusoniraq_August150.xml§ion=focusoniraq

PARIS - US combat troops traumatised by their experiences in Iraq may suffer long-term damage to their physical health, as well as known risks to their mental well-being, the British magazine New Scientist warns.

“Veterans will be paying the price of combat for decades to come,” it says in its next issue, out on Saturday.

Doctors are already familiar with the psychological impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the modern name for shell shock, a term coined in World War I.

People with PTSD can suffer from grim flashbacks, wild mood swings, bouts of depression, insomnia and anxiety, are prone to drug and alcohol abuse and are likelier to die of accidents, overdoses and suicide.

But evidence is also emerging of a link between PTSD and physical disease, and the symptoms may emerge years after trauma, New Scientist says.