Nickdfresh
02-13-2005, 03:41 PM
Army troops blame antimalarial for psychotic episodes
By SETH HETTENA
Associated Press
2/13/2005
SAN DIEGO - As a volunteer firefighter, Georg-Andreas Pogany had seen disfigured bodies pulled from wrecked cars. But something very different happened when the Army interrogator saw the mangled remains of an Iraqi soldier.
He became panicked and disoriented, and that night he reached for both his loaded pistol and rifle as he thought he saw the enemy bursting into his room.
Pogany asked his superiors for help; the Army sent him home to face charges of cowardice - the first such case since the Vietnam War.
None of it made sense to Pogany until he learned more about the pills the Army gave him each week to prevent malaria.
The drug's manufacturer warned of rare but severe side effects including paranoia and hallucinations. It became his defense: The pills made him snap. The Army dropped all charges. An Army spokesman said Pogany "may have a medical problem that requires care and treatment."
Pogany is among the current or former troops sent to Iraq who claim that Lariam, the commercial name for the anti-malarial drug mefloquine, provoked disturbing and dangerous behavior. The families of some troops blame the drug for the suicides of their loved ones.
Though the evidence is largely anecdotal, their stories have raised alarm in Congress, and the Pentagon has stopped handing out a pill that it probably never needed to give to tens of thousands of troops in Iraq in the first place.
The U.S. military, which developed the drug after the Vietnam War, maintains Lariam is safe and effective, though officials have expressed some concern and the military tells its pilots not to take Lariam.
Lariam is among the drugs recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for treatment and prevention of malaria, which kills about 1 million people worldwide each year. The drug's New Jersey-based manufacturer, Roche Pharmaceuticals, said more than 30 million people worldwide have used Lariam over 20 years.
Further blurring the issue, the side effects associated with Lariam closely mirror symptoms of stress disorders related to combat, making diagnosis difficult.
Doctors at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego have diagnosed a disorder in the region of the brain that controls balance in 18 service members who took Lariam, among them Pogany.
The Pentagon's records show the number of Lariam prescriptions issued to active-duty personnel nearly doubled from 18,704 in 2002 to 36,451 the next year, said Lt. Col. Stephen Phillips, a program director for deployment medicine. Shortly after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, military doctors determined that another malaria drug would do the job with fewer side effects.
Around that time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that doctors should give patients revised information, underscoring that some Lariam users experience severe anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Troops were supposed to receive those kinds of warnings, but several current and former soldiers interviewed for this story said they did not and that they continued taking the drug in Iraq as recently as 2004.
Last year, Phillips said, the number of prescriptions fell to 12,363.
Military officials now concede that Lariam wasn't needed in Iraq because, according to the Pentagon, no malaria infections have been reported among U.S. forces there.
Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050213/1000855.asp)
By SETH HETTENA
Associated Press
2/13/2005
SAN DIEGO - As a volunteer firefighter, Georg-Andreas Pogany had seen disfigured bodies pulled from wrecked cars. But something very different happened when the Army interrogator saw the mangled remains of an Iraqi soldier.
He became panicked and disoriented, and that night he reached for both his loaded pistol and rifle as he thought he saw the enemy bursting into his room.
Pogany asked his superiors for help; the Army sent him home to face charges of cowardice - the first such case since the Vietnam War.
None of it made sense to Pogany until he learned more about the pills the Army gave him each week to prevent malaria.
The drug's manufacturer warned of rare but severe side effects including paranoia and hallucinations. It became his defense: The pills made him snap. The Army dropped all charges. An Army spokesman said Pogany "may have a medical problem that requires care and treatment."
Pogany is among the current or former troops sent to Iraq who claim that Lariam, the commercial name for the anti-malarial drug mefloquine, provoked disturbing and dangerous behavior. The families of some troops blame the drug for the suicides of their loved ones.
Though the evidence is largely anecdotal, their stories have raised alarm in Congress, and the Pentagon has stopped handing out a pill that it probably never needed to give to tens of thousands of troops in Iraq in the first place.
The U.S. military, which developed the drug after the Vietnam War, maintains Lariam is safe and effective, though officials have expressed some concern and the military tells its pilots not to take Lariam.
Lariam is among the drugs recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for treatment and prevention of malaria, which kills about 1 million people worldwide each year. The drug's New Jersey-based manufacturer, Roche Pharmaceuticals, said more than 30 million people worldwide have used Lariam over 20 years.
Further blurring the issue, the side effects associated with Lariam closely mirror symptoms of stress disorders related to combat, making diagnosis difficult.
Doctors at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego have diagnosed a disorder in the region of the brain that controls balance in 18 service members who took Lariam, among them Pogany.
The Pentagon's records show the number of Lariam prescriptions issued to active-duty personnel nearly doubled from 18,704 in 2002 to 36,451 the next year, said Lt. Col. Stephen Phillips, a program director for deployment medicine. Shortly after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, military doctors determined that another malaria drug would do the job with fewer side effects.
Around that time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that doctors should give patients revised information, underscoring that some Lariam users experience severe anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Troops were supposed to receive those kinds of warnings, but several current and former soldiers interviewed for this story said they did not and that they continued taking the drug in Iraq as recently as 2004.
Last year, Phillips said, the number of prescriptions fell to 12,363.
Military officials now concede that Lariam wasn't needed in Iraq because, according to the Pentagon, no malaria infections have been reported among U.S. forces there.
Buffalo News (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050213/1000855.asp)