Report: Lariam affects Aussie troops



Lariam is the most effective anti-malarial drug known and has been used by thousands of Peace Corps Volunteers over the past ten years. However, the drug's potential side effects are rarely reported and include agitation, depression and aggression.

Report: Lariam affects Aussie troops

Report: Lariam affects Aussie troops

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- In a virtual replay of a controversy in the United States, Australian soldiers claim they suffered serious mental problems after taking an anti-malaria drug.

The drug, mefloquine, goes by the brand name Lariam. It was prescribed to hundreds of Australian soldiers in East Timor to fight a deadly strain of malaria.

"Dozens of soldiers came home from East Timor hearing voices and suffering from paranoia and suicidal tendencies," Paul Dyer of The Sunday Mail, an Australian newspaper, wrote earlier this month. Many have left the military, said Dyer, and there have been reports that some have committed suicide.

A number of U.S. soldiers who took Lariam in Iraq and Afghanistan reported disabling mental problems, but the Pentagon denies the drug caused severe or widespread side effects. U.S. officials attribute such problems to post-traumatic stress disorder or pre-existing mental illness.

United Press International reported in 2002 that evidence suggested Lariam caused severe mental problems and, in some cases, led to suicide.

The Food and Drug Administration subsequently warned the drug had been linked to reports of suicide and severe side effects, and ordered that everyone prescribed Lariam be told in writing about those possibilities.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

When this story was posted in September 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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