Warnings, COLUMNS-Drugs & Supplements, June 2004

Pentagon Investigating Malaria Drug's Side Effects

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon and Defense Department are investigating whether Lariam, an anti-malaria drug dispensed to military personnel, has been to blame for the deaths of at least four soldiers who returned home from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In March, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Bill Howell fatally shot himself three weeks after returning home from Iraq. In 2002, four soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina killed their wives, and then three killed themselves. Three of the four men had been taking Lariam before committing suicide.

The U.S. Army already probed into whether …