You need to watch the episode where there is a malaria threat in the camp. Klinger was supposed to get one drug but he got the wrong one because they sound very similar. When Col. Potter yells at Klinger, he switches them around.
Potter realizes at the end of this episode that Klinger didn't make a mistake. The army was out of the curative primoquin and sent a preventitive cloroquin, to keep the malaria in check until the ordered medicine could be sent. Also, Klinger got sick in this episode and thought he had malaria. It's a fact that wasn't known at this time during the Korean war, cloroquin effects Asians and African Americans differently than others causing symptoms that appear to be malaria. Klinger appeared to have malaria but didn't. This was explained at the close of the episode.
Just before the end titles of this episode, the following information appears on the screen:
"By the late 1950's, research on primaquine concluded that the enzyme deficiency which caused susceptibility to anemia was present not only in blacks, but in Caucasians of Mediterranean descent."
So, the debate on this page about Lebanon has nothing to do with this episode of M*A*S*H--the episode itself is very clear as to why Klinger was affected by the medication.
As for the original post, at about 8:08 on the M*A*S*H season 8 DVD, Hawkeye says:
"Relax. There's no emergency. We can get by with the primaquine. At least we can keep the malaria in check."
At 8:20, explaining the difference between the two, Potter says:
"Chloraquine's just a suppressant; primaquine's the curative."
Obviously these two statements are in conflict. The "suppressant" would be the one to "keep the malaria in check". The OP had a good ear to catch it.
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