Drug causing GIs permanent brain damage (Lariam)

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040526-105156-8460r

Drug causing GIs permanent brain damage
By Mark Benjamin and Dan Olmsted
United Press International
Published 5/26/2004 4:19 PM

WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- Six U.S. soldiers have been diagnosed by the military with permanent brain damage from an anti-malaria drug used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and health officials must reassess its safety, a U.S. senator said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, said the drug, called mefloquine, has "serious risks" that have not been adequately tracked by the Pentagon, the Peace Corps and other government agencies that distribute it.

"I ask that you work with the Food and Drug Administration to reassess the safety of mefloquine," Feinstein wrote Thompson in a letter dated May 24.

Feinstein told Thompson she is concerned that "six service members have been diagnosed with permanent brainstem and vestibular damage from being given this drug despite the fact that alternative drugs might have been chosen to prevent infection."

Two summers ago, that was a really tragic story. We've seen way too much more tragedy since then, too.

Yes, it is. Oh my god.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/GMA020823FortBraggInvestigation.html

(among many other Google hits)

What is wrong with those doctors?
:argh:

I always figured it was b.s. as my wife & I have taken it a few times on trips to laos & cambodia . . . gave us some fucked up vivid vioent dreams, that's all. Others have reported whacked side effects, but this is the 1st I've heard of brain damage,

Malarone is a good alternative, but it must be taken daily as opposed to weekly with the Lariam

Might partially/fully explain their behavior. I have noted the bizarre eyeballs on both of them. Whatcha think?

Maybe not mefloquine by itself, but I won't take it. Many of my colleagues won't take it. The stress is unavoidable, but there's alternatives.

I'm willing to bet the military's choice of mef has more to do with pharmacorp profits than with effective choices in malaria preventives.

Imagine how nicely the pep pills given to troops will mix with stress/mefloquine.

This is your brain "on duty".

is bad for the American consumer and soldier. But then again, it's good for BushCo because these are their megabuck supporters.

Interestingly, from what I've heard, the US is the only western country where Lariam is still the "first choice" antimalarial. I do fieldwork in Africa, and it seems like just about everyone knows at least a couple of people who had pretty unpleasant, sometimes long-term side effects from the stuff. This is the first I've heard about brain damage, though. The fact that there are this many cases all at once makes me wonder if the military is adequately screening people for contraindications (for example, anyone who has been clinically depressed or is/has ever been on antidepressants isn't supposed to take Lariam, and there are, IIRC, also some heart medications that are also contraindications).

I don't understand why Lariam is still being given to our soldiers, now that Malarone is on the market. Yes, it's possible that some of the Lariam side effect reports are overstated, but it IS true that Lariam has had much more trouble with serious side effects than has Malarone. Malarone is more expensive (well, it costs less than Lariam per pill, but you take it daily instead of weekly), but I would think that the government could negotiate a good deal with the manufacturer. I know some travel clinics say that the once-weekly dosage schedule is an advantage of Lariam, but I have to say I don't see it -- after all, you take a vitamin every day, so how hard is it to add another pill? -- and in fact, when I've been in the field, the days kind of blend into each other anyway, so I find a daily pill easier.

The other nice thing about Malarone is that you're exposing your body to the chemicals for a shorter period of time -- only two days pre-malaria exposure and one week post-exposure, versus 1-2 weeks pre-exposure and 4 weeks post-exposure for Lariam.

Edit: Regardless, Lariam won't be around forever; there are already a few areas in Southeast Asia where Lariam resistance has been noted, and I would guess eventually we may see Lariam go the way of chloroquine.

http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/asia.htm#1st

Iraq: regimen 3: chloroquine + proguanil (which is daily)

Also of note: that site thinks Lariam should only be taken for up to a year; chloroquine + proguanil can be taken for up to 5. Many troops are of course staying there more than a year now.

In general, the UK does stay away from Lariam much more than the US. I avoided it when going to Ecuador in 1996, because the possible side effects were already thought to be dodgy back then.

"Increased awareness of distressing adverse neuropsychiatric reactions to mefloquine, indicates caution in its use, but it remains of great value where there is intense exposure to malaria that is highly resistant to chloroquine."
www.hpa.org.uk/cdph/issues/CDPHvol4/ No2/malaria_guidelinesp.pdf (June 2001)

“Mefloquine may cause psychiatric symptoms in a number of patients, ranging from anxiety, paranoia, and depression to hallucinations and psychotic behavior. On occasions, these symptoms have been reported to continue long after mefloquine has been stopped. Rare cases of suicidal ideation and suicide have been reported though no relationship to drug administration has been confirmed. To minimize the chances of these adverse events, mefloquine should not be taken for prophylaxis in patients with active depression or with a recent history of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, psychosis, or schizophrenia or other major psychiatric disorders. Lariam should be used with caution in patients with a previous history of depression.”

“During prophylactic use, if psychiatric symptoms such as acute anxiety, depression, restlessness or confusion occur, these may be considered prodromal to a more serious event. In these cases, the drug must be discontinued and an alternative medication should be substituted.”

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2002/lariam_deardoc.htm


This doesn't sound like anything I'd have wanted to take in 'Nam. Depression? Anxiety disorder? (Sheesh!) This is a fscking stupid med to give to troops!

On edit: Ahhh yes. We have a site devoted to lawsuits. Good information here ... http://www.lariam-larium-side-effects.com/

"Lariam (Mefloquine) Side Effects Lawsuits. The most-prescribed malaria drug could produce psychiatric side effects in more than one-quarter of all travelers who take it. Peace Corps volunteers are coming forward saying that over the past 12 years they suffered crippling paranoia, anxiety, hallucinations, memory loss, suicidal behavior and physical ailments from seizures to vision difficulty because of the drug handed out by government doctors to prevent malaria. Emerging evidence suggests that a rash of domestic killings by soldiers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in the summer of 2002 may be related to this drug.This site provides legal help for people with claims against the drug maker Hoffman LaRoche well as information about the risks of using Lariam."

...is slow to get the info out. (I know, I know, it takes time to collect all the data...but still! I knew enough in early 2000 to INSIST that I be given doxycycline instead of Lariam for my first trip to Africa.)

For me, the bottom line in terms of what to take is that the original list of side effects (from before anecdotal reports started to circulate) for Lariam is much more disturbing than that reported for Malarone at a similar point in its history. And of course, there's still doxycycline, though that does bring with it the risk of heightened sun sensitivity.

In their dreams.

Saddam's fault.
He, and his weapons of mass destruction.

...when I went into the Amazon Jungle where there are known areas and cases of Malaria....I fortunately never got Malaria nor suffered any of the described symptoms that are in this posting, but it wouldn't surprise me. Our US Pharmaceutical industry is out of control and they could care less what effect it has on people as long as their profits are big.

Anyway, who knows what else we've given our soldiers that is causing major problems to their mental and physical health (not to mention all the "vaccinations" and the mercury in their body) but I am concerned about this posting and that the next thing we will hear as a defense from all the perps of the abuses and torture of prisoners is "the meds made me do it"....

for some kind of drug the pharmaceutical companies has put out. Remember when he was taking those chemical scare precautionary vaccinations?

junior's demeanor is very strange.

That might torque your brain a little too.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=602732004

And I'm left wondering how one can tell.