Tri-Service

Ex-Army Head: I Wouldn't Take Lariam

A former head of the Army has admitted he would not take a controversial anti-malarial drug as he apologised to troops who took it while under his command.

Lariam has been associated in a minority of users with depression, hallucinations and panic attacks.

Forces TV's Tim Cooper spoke to retired Lt Col Andrew Marriott, who suffered several side effects from Lariam.

He said he was "astonished" and "disappointed" by the admission, and that it meant there were different rules for different ranks:

While Lariam is not the main anti-malarial drug used by the Armed Forces, at least 17,368 personnel were prescribed it at least once between the start of April 2007 and the end of March 2015.

Lord Dannatt, who was Chief of the General Staff between 2006 and 2009, told BBC Two's Victoria Derbyshire programme he would not take the drug because of his son Bertie's experience with it.

He said Bertie had suffered mental health problems after taking two doses of Lariam before visiting Africa as a civilian in the late 1990s. He was not in the Armed Forces at the time but had been prescribed the product by his father's Army doctor.

Lord Dannatt said his normally bubbly son had become "extremely depressed" and if he had been left untreated "who knows where it would have gone". He told the BBC the side-effects of the drug could be "pretty catastrophic". He said:

"Because Bertie had that effect, whenever I've needed anti-malarial drugs, I've said, 'I'll take anything, but I'm not taking Lariam'".

Lord Dannatt said he was "quite content to say sorry" to those troops who had taken Lariam while he was head of the Army.

Ellen Duncan, whose husband Major General Alastair Duncan died last month, has campaigned for an end to the use of Lariam.

She's convinced the drug affected her husband's mental health and compounded problems with a head injury suffered in Bosnia, as well as his PTSD symptoms.

Speaking to Forces TV's James Hirst, she welcomed the former Army chief's comments.

Lord Dannatt has suggested evaluating the merits of the drug was put on the "backburner" because between 2003 and 2014 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was focused on conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan which are not malarial areas.

Travel to Iraq is not currently viewed as a malaria risk by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while Afghanistan is listed as having a moderate risk at certain times of year, in certain areas.

He also suggested the MoD was afraid of opening the "floodgates" to "very expensive" compensation claims if it admitted the drug had harmed troops. An MoD spokeswoman said:

"The vast majority of deployed personnel already receive alternatives to Lariam and, where it is used, it is only prescribed after an individual risk assessment. But we have a duty to protect our personnel from malaria and, as the last defence committee report concluded, in some cases, Lariam will be the most effective way of doing that. It continues to be recommended as safe by Public Health England and the World Health Organisation."

The drug's manufacturer, Roche, told the BBC it "will continue to work with the Ministry of Defence to ensure that they have all the relevant information to ensure Lariam is prescribed appropriately".

Earlier this year the Commons Defence Committee called for Lariam to be designated a "drug of last resort", only to be issued when there was no alternative available.

Roche said that Lariam should only be prescribed following an individual risk assessment, to those unable to tolerate other treatments and only after the patient is made aware of alternatives.

It said: "The most recent safety assessment conducted by EU authorities in March 2016 reinforced previous guidance that the benefits of Lariam outweigh the potential risks of the treatment."