Military Service Linked to Lou Gehrig's Disease

Harvard scientists have discovered that military men who served as far back as World War I had a 60% increased risk of dying from the devastating motor neuron disease ALS, although the research does not explain why.

Hints that the disease was linked to service in the Persian Gulf War led scientists to look at the possibility that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, is somehow linked to wartime environments.

Patients with ALS lose their ability to move. They usually die within five years.

The findings were reported Wednesday at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in San Francisco.