Mass administration of the antimalarial drug mefloquine to Guanta ́ namo detainees

Malaria, Mefloquine, and Gitmo

While researching a recent article about the FDA's decision to
include a black box warning on the labeling of the antimalarial
drug mefloquine cautioning about neurologic and psychiatric
adverse complications,Nancy Walsh,   came across a strange
 story in the journal Tropical Medicine and International Health.

The article chronicled the use of mefloquine among "many, if not
all" of the detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

What was the reason for the routine use of mefloquine -- an agent
with documented adverse events including depression, hallucinations,
confusion, paranoia, and anxiety, and linked to 22 deaths and five
suicides -- in Guantanamo?

A possibility, which is deeply troubling to consider, is that the
decision to administer the drug was informed and motivated at least
in part by knowledge of the drug's adverse neuropsychiatric effects
and the presumed plausible deniability of claims of misuse in the
context of its seemingly legitimate clinical or public health indication.

It is concluded that there was no plausible public health indication
for the use of mefloquine at Guantanamo


Remington L. Nevin
Department of Preventive Medicine, Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital,

For more info: http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/testimonies-