In a recent move that was a total reversal on the Army’s previous policy on an anti-malaria medication, the Army has curbed its use of mefloquine.
Long prescribed, across-the-board, for Soldiers heading off to foreign countries, the Army has now slashed its prescription rate of mefloquine by 75% even with the continued deployment of Soldiers to malaria-prone Afghanistan.
"We are constantly looking to ensure we are taking care of (soldiers) the best we can," said Army Col. Carol Labadie, the service's pharmacy program manager. "If that means changing from one drug to another because now this original drug has shown to be potentially harmful, … it is in our interests to make that change."
Medical researchers for the Army started developing anti-malaria medications towards the end of the Vietnam War and began using mefloquine widely after it was licensed by Roche Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Lariam in the early 1990s. It became part of the Army's routine medication regimen for deploying Soldiers.
Some Soldiers complained that the pill caused varying degrees of psychiatric symptoms including nightmares, depression and paranoia and in extreme cases, complete mental breakdowns. Army literature says such symptoms occur at a rate of between one per 2,000-13,000 people.
While the Army has scaled back its use of mefloquine other branches of the military continue to favor the medication, in fact, the Navy and USMC have increased their prescription rate of the drug in the last three years.
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