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Army Investigators Look at Medication in Murder Cases
Aired August 22, 2002 - 14:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Fort Bragg, North Carolina this summer has been rocked by five murders involving military families. Army investigators have classified them all as domestic. Now they wonder if there might be a medical connection in the form of an anti- malaria drug.
CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell more about the drug Lariam -- Dr. Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: How are doing, Anderson? Absolutely. This has been the question. Lariam, a well- known antimalarial drug used for prophylaxis, I think you had mentioned that you had taken it in the past as well, and also used for treatment. Twenty-five million people take this medication, and as a result, it is not surprising that there are side effects.
Let's look at some of the minor side effects first that people have complained about with this particular medication. When you look at known side effects, some of the minor ones -- first of all -- there you go. Nausea, dizziness, difficulty sleeping.
And then, if you look at some of the more serious side effects, severe anxiety, seizures, and hallucinations. And let me say as well -- I think we have another graphic to basically show who should not be taking this medication. After looking at all these people that are taking this medication, they figure out after a while who would more at risk.
People should not take it if they have a history of severe mental illness, and that is something that obviously people are putting a lot of attention on, given this particular case. Also, if they ever had an allergic reaction, if they have had seizure disorders, or if they have ever had irregular heart beats.
As well Anderson, all those things possibly are reasons people should not take the medication. It is a popular medication. It is a medication that is effect in terms of its prophylaxis against malaria, and it is also something that is very useful in treating it, so that is why it is so popular.
COOPER: Dr. Gupta, there are a lot of people who are going to be listening to this saying, well, why wouldn't the Army just give out something else instead of Lariam, and if has got all these rather bizarre side effects, why give it out at all?
GUPTA: Well, first of all, the side effects are pretty rare, and most medications do have side effects, one in 10,000, if you are taking the medication as a prophylaxis. More frequent if you are taking it for treatment, 1 in 250. But to answer your question, Anderson, there is a couple of reasons. On is that, over the years, there have started to develop malaria resistance against lots of medications.
And therefore, drug companies have had to make medications more powerful to be able to treat the malaria, but with that you get more side effects. That's one reason, and the other reason is that it is a pretty effective medication. Like other malaria medications, it does have side effects.
COOPER: And is there another drug that could replace it, if the Army decided not to continue using Lariam?
GUPTA: Well, there are other drugs out there, and it is hard to say whether or not they have better side effect profiles. One of the gold standard therapies for a long time was a drug called quinine, and that was a medication that was used for prophylaxis against malaria. However, over the years, people have started to develop resistant to this medication. If you are traveling abroad, that is something your doctor will likely tell you, and give you the option of taking a medication like Lariam instead.
COOPER: It does seem highly strange that there was this cluster of these horrible incidences at Fort Bragg, and then the idea that there would also be a medical cluster with everyone having the same medical reaction to this drug, it just seems highly unusual, to say the least.
GUPTA: Yes, right. You are absolutely right. Those two unusual situations, one compounded on the other. I guess if you just take the first situation, the fact that there were these incredibly violent crimes, five homicides, two suicides in this small cluster. I don't think it is unreasonable for investigators to look for some other causal links, something that may have been a contributing factor to this. Medication is one example, but you are rare -- I am sorry, you are right, Anderson, that these side effects are still very rare, even from this Lariam medication.
COOPER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks a lot.
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