Army orders ban of malaria drug mefloquine

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http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2013/09/29/1284087?sac=fo.military

Army orders ban of malaria drug mefloquine
Published: 12:00 AM, Sun Sep 29, 2013
By Pauline Jelinek
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The top doctor for Green Berets and other elite Army commandos has told troops to immediately stop taking mefloquine, an anti-malaria drug found to cause permanent brain damage in rare cases.

The ban among special operations forces is the latest development in a long-running controversy over mefloquine. The drug was developed by the Army in the 1970s and has been taken by millions of travelers and people in the military over the years. As alternatives were developed, it fell out of favor as the front-line defense against malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that international health officials say kills roughly 600,000 people a year.

The new prohibition among special operations forces follows a July 29 safety announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that it had strengthened warnings about neurologic side effects associated with the drug.

The drug's other side effects include anxiety, depression and hallucinations.