WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- Images of the war in Iraq are triggering post traumatic stress disorder flare-ups among a growing number of Vietnam veterans, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reports.

The Department of Veterans Affairs show that PTSD disability-compensation cases have surged since the Iraq war began in 2003 to an all-time high of more than 260,000, the report said.

PTSD researcher John Wilson oversaw a small recent survey of 70 veterans mostly from the Vietnam War at Cleveland State University.

He said after watching television reports on the war in Iraq, 57 percent reported flashbacks, almost 46 percent said their sleep was disrupted and nearly 44 percent said they had fallen into a depression since the war began.

"We found very high levels of intensification of their symptoms," Wilson said. "It's like a fever that has gone from 99 to 104."