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Gulf Vets Barred From Giving Blood

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon and the nation's largest association of blood banks yesterday banned blood donations from Persian Gulf War veterans and others who have visited the gulf because 22 U.S. soldiers contracted a parasitic disease there.

The disease, leishmania, is transmitted by sandflies and can be treated by intravenous medication. The more serious form of the illness can be fatal if untreated. There are fears that the disease, or a strain of it, could be transmitted by blood transfusion.

Fifteen infected Army servicemen have skin lesions from the less serious form of the disease, the Pentagon said.

The cases are not life-threatening, the Pentagon added.

None of the 22 with the disease donated blood, said Army Col. Charles Oster, chief of infectious diseases at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.