Denver Post
June 11, 2004
Soldiers Blame Ills On Drug
Two Fort Carson GIs Say They Took An Anti-Malaria Drug In Iraq And
Now Are Suffering
By Eileen Kelley, Special to The Denver Post
Fort Carson - Spec. Heather Stanbro finds herself standing in rooms with no idea how she
got there. She shakes uncontrollably and has trouble walking without staggering. She
recently bit and punched her husband in what she calls a psychotic episode.
The 25-year-old soldier blames her medical problems on the anti-malaria drug Lariam
that she was forced to take weekly last year while serving as a medic in Iraq.
Stanbro said a military medical specialist recently told her that she is suffering from
brain-stem damage, with Lariam being the probable cause for at least her balance
problems.
The medical expert, Dr. Michael Hoffer, on Thursday confirmed the conversation and
added that he suspects Lariam is also to blame for the physical problems Fort Carson
soldier Georg Pogany suffers. Pogany became the first soldier since the Vietnam War to
be charged with cowardice after his panicked reaction to seeing a dead Iraqi in a body
bag. His career is in limbo, and, like Stanbro, he has balance problems and other troubles.
"I've had the ringing in my ears pretty much since I have been back," Pogany said. "I hear
sounds when there is none. It can drive you crazy."
The two Fort Carson soldiers will be part of a new U.S. Navy study into the drugs and
chemical exposures of several hundred servicemen and women who have complained of
balance and vision problems, another Navy doctor told The Denver Post on Thursday.
Both soldiers were treated and evaluated by Hoffer, the director of the Department of
Defense Spatial Orientation Center at Naval Medical Center, San Diego. The two Fort
Carson soldiers are among 11 service members he has seen for balance problems in the
past eight weeks.
Hoffer has treated hundreds of service members for balance problems, but something
stands out in 10 of the 11 recent cases, he said Thursday.
"The common thread is Lariam in what we have seen so far," Hoffer said.
The new Navy study, prompted by the 11 recent Iraq and Afghanistan returnees with
balance problems, will take another look at several hundred service members earlier seen
for similar problems.
An epidemiologist and captain for the Navy, Dr. Dean Bailey will be leading the new
investigation to see if Lariam has caused the problems.
"There are quite a few things which can do this and, be honest, we are looking at all of
them," Bailey said. "... There are several hundred patients, and we are trying to find out
what the common factors and exposures are."
Another study was announced in March by the Department of Defense to investigate the
effects of Lariam and other anti-malaria drugs.
The drug mefloquine was created by the military and is now manufactured under the
brand name Lariam by Roche Pharmaceuticals. According to its warning label, Lariam
can cause psychiatric symptoms ranging from anxiety, paranoia and depression to
hallucinations and psychotic behavior.
"On occasions, these symptoms have been reported to continue long after mefloquine has
been stopped," the warning on Roche's website says.
Department of Defense records indicate that between Oct. 1, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2003,
the department bought 4,153,000 doses of mefloquine and issued 49,206 mefloquine
prescriptions to 44,634 individuals.
But the department has decided that Iraq's mosquito problem is not so severe that the
widespread distribution of the drug is needed.
"Based on the revised risk assessment, anti-malarial medications are not expected to be
required next mosquito seasons in most parts of Iraq," the department said Thursday in a
written answer to a question from The Post.
The two Fort Carson soldiers are angry that they took a drug they apparently did not need
and now are suffering.
Stanbro said she probably took 32 pills before she was medically evacuated from Iraq
after being injured in a mortar attack July 3.
Her condition at home continued to worsen. A March incident was the clearest sign that
something was wrong.
"I had a psychotic episode; I cannot think of another way to word it nicely," she said.
After having two or three glasses of wine at a friend's house, she vaguely recalls lashing
out at her husband, Jason, believing that he was trying to kill her and that someone's
combat boot was crushing her throat.
"I was talking gibberish and started crying and screaming bloody murder at the top of my
lungs, and he went to hug me and I beat him away," she said. "He grabbed my wrist to
calm me down, and I bit his hand. I guess I felt like I had to escape."
The next morning, after a night in the emergency room, she was covered in bruises along
her right side.
Pogany, the 33-year-old interrogator with the 10th Special Force Group at Fort Carson,
has been battling the Army since his panic attack in late September. Pogany made
national headlines when he was charged with cowardice - a crime potentially punishable
by death.
Pogany and his attorney have maintained that he had a normal combat stress reaction that
was exacerbated by the use of Lariam. On that September day, he was given the third of
what would be four doses of the anti-malaria drug.
Charges against Pogany were dropped, but he remains in a legal limbo. He is still without
his security clearance and without written word from commanders that charges have been
dropped.
When asked if he felt vindicated after learning of the brain-stem damage believed to be
caused by the Lariam, Pogany responded: "Redeem myself from what? Redeem myself
from having an adverse reaction to a medication they gave me?"
Last week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released letters to Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi urging the Pentagon to come
up with a plan that would allow service members to report side effects of the drug
without retribution.
Pogany says that didn't happen after he asked for help while in Iraq.
"I had to beg them for a post-deployment health assessment because when I asked them
for one I was told that I was not entitled to one," Pogany said.
"They ignored the facts or failed to research the side affects of Lariam," said Pogany's
lawyer, Richard Travis. "Georg is the poster child for the effects."
Doctors in California say they are concerned about the well-being of Pogany, Stanbro and
the other service members. They say they intend to help them to overcome their physical
problems.
"We think, based on our extensive experience, that we can get these folks better," Hoffer
said.
Pogany's career with the Army Special Forces is effectively over. Stanbro, too, appears to
be on her way out of the service.
"The Army finds me unfit for duty with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), so how
many jobs are going to (find) me fit, especially with the Lariam damage?" Stanbro said
this week.
She says the Army has offered her a discharge and $20,000 severance for her injuries, but
no monthly disability pay.
"I got screwed. ... Everything is all jumbled up. There are so many things that have
happened in not even a year," she said. "It's frustrating. I am 25 years old and I'm happily
married, and then I go off to war to fight for the freedom of another nation, and this is the
thanks I get."