Hick's nice little earner..

[The Hen]

Heh. That's the form that s more commonly used for Land Rights.

[rubato]

I couldn't find any evidence that there is any risk of Malaria in Cuba. If he was given Mefloquine at Gitmo then that could be a crime.

George Washington told his troops at pain of death that they were to afford all dignity and fair treatment to the captured British soldiers and were in to wise ever to treat them cruelly (even though the British routinely practiced torture and murdered captured Americans).

Because he had a sense of morality which the Bush administration (and its apologists) lack and was trying to bring forth a country founded on the idea of individual rights and the dignity of mankind.

yrs,
rubato

[loCAtek]

He wasn't being treated for any Malaria in Cuba, but for any exposure he might have had in Afghanistan. It's possible for the Malaria disease to not manifest itself for up to a year after infection.

That's why any tourists to possible Malaria zones are required to receive medication, regardless that they may not show any symptoms.

[rubato]

Only for 4 weeks.

per: http://www.medicinenet.com/mefloquine-oral/article.htm

yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

$10,000 worth of royalties, how could that be worth the legal costs and time lost? Is he expecting international sales to be better?

yrs,
rubato

[loCAtek]

The first symptoms usually occur 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, though they can appear as early as 8 days or as long as a year after infection.

....


Treatment

Malaria, especially Falciparum malaria, is a medical emergency that requires a hospital stay. Chloroquine is often used as an anti-malarial medication. However, chloroquine-resistant infections are common in some parts of the world*.

Possible treatments for chloroquine-resistant infections include:
•
The combination of quinidine or quinine plus doxycycline, tetracycline, or clindamycin

•
Atovaquone plus proguanil (Malarone)

•
Mefloquine or artesunate

•
The combination of pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine (Fansidar)


The choice of medication depends in part on where you were when you were infected.


A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia.

Areas of Afghanistan with Malaria: April–December in all areas <2,000m (<6,561ft). (more information)

If you will be visiting an area of Afghanistan with malaria, you will need to discuss with your doctor the best ways for you to avoid getting sick with malaria. Ways to prevent malaria include the following:
• Taking a prescription antimalarial drug
• Using insect repellent and wearing long pants and sleeves to prevent mosquito bites
• Sleeping in air-conditioned or well-screened rooms or using bednets

All of the following antimalarial drugs are equal options for preventing malaria in Afghanistan: Atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, or mefloquine. For detailed information about each of these drugs, see Table 3-11: Drugs used in the prophylaxis of malaria. For information that can help you and your doctor decide which of these drugs would be best for you, please see Choosing a Drug to Prevent Malaria.

*Note: Chloroquine is NOT an effective antimalarial drug in Afghanistan and should not be taken to prevent malaria in this region.

To find out more information on malaria throughout the world, you can use the interactive CDC malaria map. You can search or browse countries, cities, and place names for more specific malaria risk information and the recommended prevention medicines for that area.


:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[The Hen]

High dosages were given to all detainees, including David Hicks, to stop the spread of malaria. But it was not given to staff brought into the centre from malaria-endemic countries.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/witnesse ... z27KoF1Nf4

Strange they thought so little of staff to not give them the same drug at the same high dosage levels.

[rubato]

The standard of treatment is 4 weeks. Because if you are treated for 4 weeks after leaving a malaria-infested area you won't develop symptoms, even a year later. The infection will have been treated.

yrs,
rubato

[The Hen]

I used to live in a malaria zone. (Though this was decades ago.)

I was only on a daily dosage of quinine back then. No wonder I enjoy a G & T these days.

[Gob]

Strange they thought so little of staff to not give them the same drug at the same high dosage levels.

Strange they gave the prisoners a high dosage of an anti-malarial on a non malaria infected island.

An investigation by the Seton Hall University School of Law, a leading law school in the New York metropolitan area, found that administering 1250mg of the malaria drug mefloquine to Guantanamo Bay detainees was a standard operating procedure, “whether or not any use of the drug was medically appropriate.”


“Mefloquine was administered to detainees contrary to medical protocol or purpose,” Professor Mark P. Denbeaux, Director of the Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research, said. “The record reveals no medical justification for mefloquine in this manner or at these doses. On this record there appears to be only three possible reasons for drugging these men: gross malpractice, human experimentation or ‘enhanced interrogation.’”

“At best it represents monumental incompetence,” he added. “At worst, it’s torture.”

Mefloquine, even at the standard dose of 250mg, can cause severe side effects such as paranoia, hallucinations, aggression, psychotic behavior, memory impairment, convulsions, suicidal ideation and possibly suicide. The drug produces psychoactive effects because it can cross the blood-brain barrier. In addition, it has a relatively long half-life and is fat-soluble, meaning the drug can remain in the body for a long period of time.

[The Hen]

WOW. 1250 mg? That is a significantly high dose.

According to Lo's information on page one:

The optimum treatment dose of mefloquine in this area is 25 mg.

So prisoners were given a dose 50 times higher than what was recommended.

Hmmmm.

[loCAtek]

High dosages were given to all detainees, including David Hicks, to stop the spread of malaria. But it was not given to staff brought into the centre from malaria-endemic countries.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/witnesse ... z27KoF1Nf4

Strange they thought so little of staff to not give them the same drug at the same high dosage levels.

From the link;

Mr Neely has also said that the doctors never told the detainees what drugs they were being given.

Just what drugs were being administered in some cases may never be known. Medical records are apparently incomplete, with names and dosages of some drugs removed.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/witnesse ... z27XZHet9s

Also, Gitmo is staffed by military personnel who received malaria medications before they were sent to high risk regions. After they left that area, they were not at threat in Cuba. Detainees needed treatment since they had been to those zones and had not received prior medication.

ETA: Regarding Contractor staff (KBR), Gabriela Segura, a spokeswoman for KBR, told Truthout that KBR provided “immunizations against diseases and harmful agents endemic to each employee’s destination in accordance with the recommendations of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, International SOS, and the World Health Organization.”


...Capt. Albert Shimkus, who was head of the Naval Hospital at Guantanamo and the chief surgeon for Joint Task Force 160, told Truthout the hundreds of contractors who arrived at Guantanamo in March 2002 to construct prison camps were the medical responsibility of the contracting agency, which was KBR.

Shimkus, who signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in January 2002 authorizing the 1,250 mg dosage of mefloquine for all Guantanamo detainees, said he was told by KBR personnel, during a meeting around that time at separate medical facilities used by the firm at the naval base, that contractors were taking malaria prophylaxis drugs and would remain on such drugs while they remained on the island.

...

A report by Seton Hall University School of Law’s Center for Policy and Research last December, issued at the same time Truthout released the findings of our investigation, stated that treatment doses of mefloquine on all the detainees, without an accepted medical rationale by any public health official willing to publicly support the policy, could be attributed to a medical experiment, “gross medical malpractice” or possibly one of three other possibilities, any of which “would likely satisfy the legal definition of torture as articulated by the Department of Justice in 2002.”

Shimkus has vehemently denied that mefloquine was used for any other purpose. He said the policy of mass presumptive treatment was enacted following discussions he and other military officials had with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Navy Environmental Health Center (NEHC) and the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center (AFMIC) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, which is part of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The human intelligence division of DIA was one of the primary agencies involved in the interrogations of the detainees.

Shimkus said he also answered to a medical chain of command that ran through the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), indicating that senior Pentagon officials would have been knowledgeable about the policy.

[The Hen]

We know they gave them FAR in excess of 'the drug Mefloquine.

An investigation by the Seton Hall University School of Law, a leading law school in the New York metropolitan area, found that administering 1250mg of the malaria drug mefloquine to Guantanamo Bay detainees was a standard operating procedure,

“At best it represents monumental incompetence,” he added. “At worst, it’s torture.”

Mefloquine, even at the standard dose of 250mg, can cause severe side effects such as paranoia, hallucinations, aggression, psychotic behavior, memory impairment, convulsions, suicidal ideation and possibly suicide. The drug produces psychoactive effects because it can cross the blood-brain barrier. In addition, it has a relatively long half-life and is fat-soluble, meaning the drug can remain in the body for a long period of time.

[loCAtek]

Cross post, please see above.

[The Hen]

They were given anti-malarial treatment at a FAR higher dosage than recommended.

[Gob]

In an area with no malaria....

Evidence including previously secret reports and witnesses including a Guantanamo guard, and New York lawyer, Josh Dratel, support Mr Hicks's claims that he was drugged.

Mr Dratel, who has top secret security clearance from the US Department of Justice and has acted for a number of detainees including Mr Hicks, was to give direct evidence of the ''non-therapeutic'' drugging. In an affidavit prepared for the trial, Mr Dratel revealed that US prosecutors had admitted that Mr Hicks's claims that ''guards had forced him to eat a meal which contained a sedative before they read him the charges'' were true. He was told it had been done to protect the officers from his reactions.

Former Guantanamo guard Brandon Neely also supplied an affidavit for the trial saying that detainees were regularly beaten for refusing to take the medications.

[loCAtek]

Already answered: detainees were being treated for possible exposure to malaria in Afghanistan, not Cuba. In some cases, the disease can take up to a year to manifest.

There has already been an investigation into this;

In 2010, the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP), along with the Soros-financed Open Society Institute (OSI) convened a Task Force on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centers.

...

Interestingly, the IMAP TF included a former Guantanamo medical official, Captain (ret.) Albert Shimkus, Jr., who had been Chief Surgeon for JTF-160 at Guantanamo until mid-2003, and commanding officer at the Naval Base Hospital during the same period. Shimkus was not a doctor, but a nurse practitioner. Currently he teaches National Security Affairs at the U.S. Navy War College.

Of much importance to me, and presumably my readers, he was the official who signed off on the medical SOP that dosed every detainee entering Guantanamo with treatment-level doses of the anti-malaria drug mefloquine (also known as Lariam).

The unprecedented use of the drug, whose controversial history of side effects was already a subject of debate and research within the Department of Defense and CDC, was criticized by some public health experts. It was also the subject of an investigation by the Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research, published the same time as Jason Leopold and I issued the first of our Guantanamo mefloquine reports.

...

Another TF panel member told me that by April 2011, the TF had only met twice. Shimkus was present at both meetings, and seemed “regretful and decent.”

Captain Shimkus has always been responsive to my queries to him about the Guantanamo-mefloquine story, although responsive doesn’t mean fully open. He explained there were things that were classified and he was unable to talk about, or was told specifically not to talk about. In addition, he never seemed “regretful” about anything he did or policies undertaken from a medical standpoint at Guantanamo. He disagreed with the conclusions of Drs. Iacopino and Xenakis about medical neglect and/or cover-up at Guantanamo, and he maintained, in more than one interview, that he consulted on the mefloquine SOP and it was undertaken for public health reasons and was nothing more than that.



The Public Record

Now, we wait for the 2013 report.

[The Hen]

Detainees were given anti-malarial treatment at a FAR higher dosage than recommended. This is regardless of whether the treatment was actually required.

[Sean]

That article mentioned "treatment-level doses". We're talking about doses much, much higher than treatment level.

If proven, it is torture, pure and simple! Those who administered/condoned/authorised it will hopefully be held accountable.

[Gob]

Of course there is a cheap and quick malaria screen which could have been done to see if any detainees were carrying malaria, those who were could have been treated. But to give at random such huge doses of anti-malaria meds can have only one purpose.