Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many serving (1) members of the armed forces, and (2) reservists, deployed to Sierra Leone in the ebola epidemic have been given Lariam (mefloquine) as a malaria prophylaxis.

58 UK Armed Forces personnel who have been deployed on Operation GRITROCK before 31 October 2014 have been prescribed Mefloquine (commercially known as Lariam) as a malaria prophylaxis. All of these 58 were Regulars.

The exact choice of antimalarial drug used by the military depends on a number of factors, including the region the individual is deploying to, their health and any past history of side effects. Malarone is the first choice drug for those Service personnel deploying on Operation GRITROCK. For those individuals unable to tolerate Malarone the second choice is Mefloquine. Doxycycline will be offered to those individuals who cannot tolerate Malorone or Mefloquine.