Thank you.
I have a question for Dr. Merali, and then one for Dr. Thirlwell.
Dr. Merali, we've been working a lot with veterans exposed to the malaria drug mefloquine. It causes permanent damage to the brain stem and it mimics PTSD. The U.S., Britain, Australia, and Germany have all limited the use or completely removed the use of this anti-malarial drug. Health Canada has recently, this last summer, changed the label to indicate that it can cause damage to the brain stem, and depression, hallucination, nightmares, psychotic behaviour, numerous physical side effects, and suicidal ideation. There is a strong correlation that we're finding between suicide rates and mefloquine use.
We had David Bona, a veteran from Somalia, from our Canadian Airborne Regiment, saying that after 20 years he was finally able to get proper treatment and relief after a brain scan. He was previously treated for PTSD and was now able to see that he had mefloquine toxicity. It causes a physical brain stem injury.
Looking at the work that you're doing here and seeing the results of this study, has your facility been asked, or has it ever considered doing brain imaging with respect to identifying mefloquine toxicity to see the scarring on the brain?