WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- Six U.S. soldiers have been diagnosed with permanent brain damage from an anti-malaria drug used in Iraq and Afghanistan, a U.S. senator said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson saying the drug, mefloquine, has "serious risks" that have not been adequately tracked by the Pentagon, the Peace Corps and other government agencies that distribute it.
"I ask that you work with the Food and Drug Administration to reassess the safety of mefloquine," Feinstein wrote in the letter dated May 24.
Feinstein said she is concerned "six service members have been diagnosed with permanent brainstem and vestibular damage from being given this drug despite the fact that alternative drugs might have been chosen to prevent infection."
