[1] This Researcher which should have presented at this Committee.
[2] Why was this subject not addressed for Gulf War vets?
[3] Train of thought: immune reaction- infections - yes
Venus Hammack
DSJF Director
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Trauma and the Immune Response: Possibilities for Fine
Control of Immunity and Implications for the Injured Combatant

The immune response toward infectious organisms has
typically been considered as a distinct entity involving cells of the
acquired immune system and leading to a specific response to
environmental pathogens
It is now recognized that acquired immunity is closely
tied to innate indicators of trauma, and that pathways involved in
hemostasis have considerable influence over immune activation

In physiological circumstances, this association between
minor trauma and the immune response serves to provoke an appropriate
immune response to a limited infectious challenge at the site of
organism entry

It is now becoming apparent that in situations of massive
injury, this link can become counter-adaptive and induce many of the
aspects that are now associated with late combatant mortality:
multisystem organ failure, disseminated coagulopathies and shock

Developing the case for innate-acquired communication
during trauma and highlight areas that are likely to yield novel
therapies for treatment of the injured combatant
Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD, FACS
Senior Investigator and Chief, Transplantation Branch, NIDDK
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services