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Ser2,586
Article Date08-01-2020
Record TYPENews
Article TOPICDU/Metals/Chem
Article TitleResults of scientific inquiry into malaria drugs used by US troops expected in March 2020
Article ContentResults of scientific inquiry into malaria drugs used by US troops expected in March 2020

Patricia Kime
December 26, 2019

VVi 06 Jan 2020 db

During the response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, troops were issued the medication malarone to prevent malaria. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is reviewing the scientific evidence on whether ant-imalaria drugs can cause long-term health effects. (Staff Sgt. V. Michelle Woods/Army)

A scientific panel plans to publish next year the results of year-long study of anti-malarial drugs used by U.S. troops and other federal workers, a review greatly anticipated by former service members and Peace Corps volunteers who say their debilitating mental and physical health symptoms were caused by mefloquine, a once-a-week malaria preventive issued to thousands who served overseas.

At the request of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine researchers are examining existing scientific literature to determine whether anti-malaria drugs, including mefloquine, also known as Lariam, cause brain damage, neurological conditions or psychiatric disorders.

During a meeting of the panel earlier this year, military veterans and Peace Corps volunteers told members how their lives were shattered by mefloquine — a prescription they were ordered to take but frequently wasn’t documented in their health records.

Marine Col. Timothy Dunn, who retired in 2018 after nearly 30 years of service, said he began experiencing vivid dreams, insomnia, anxiety, depression and “brain fog” as soon as he began taking mefloquine on deployment in 2006.

Since then, his symptoms have worsened, he said, to include vertigo, ringing in his ears and loss of balance.

“You have to do something to look at this closely and make a fair and just determination,” Dunn told the panel. “There are many more than I who have had this problem.”

Sarah Thompson, a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso from 2010 to 2012, said she was issued a large dose of mefloquine on arriving in the country and then took it once a week for two years.

She developed psychiatric symptoms, which she reported to her medical advisers, and later, disabling dizziness and vertigo. It wasn’t until she returned home, however, that she learned of mefloquine’s potential side effects because she never received the original packaging or instructions.

“It’s been over six years since my return from West Africa and I continue to experience the side effects from this drug,” Thompson told the panel March 27. “I know countless other volunteers who continue to struggle on a daily basis and who are on disability which can be confidently attributed to this drug.”

U.S. service members routinely take malaria prophylaxis medications when deploying to countries where malaria is endemic, such as Afghanistan, Djibouti and throughout Africa. But anti-malarials also were prescribed in places where the mosquito-borne disease is not prevalent, such as Iraq, which has been malaria-free since 2008.

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Supplement 
Eval SOURCE RELIABILITYB - Usually Reliable
Eval INFO CREDIBILITY1 - Cfm Other Source
COMPONENTOther
SourceMilitary Times
Source URLhttps://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/12/26/results-of-scientific-inquiry-into-malaria-drugs-used-by-us-troops-expected-in-march/?fbclid=IwAR1vuiV8fWlNpJsuNYllGjV1PjbPagGwFU5BY92ZCWQshAa2smrtG1cuEds
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Periodical Issue08-01-2020
Periodical No 
VVi ContributorCJ
ACTION GENERALOn-Going