Medical corps officers were often the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for infectious disease mortality in armies during the pre-antibiotic era. This means that medical officers could be among the first indicators of a serious medical problem (See https://wordhistories.net/2018/03/31/canary-coal-mine). Deployed forces, however, could experience exotic threats, such as malaria and cholera, that could kill both… Read more »
Abstract Soil-transmitted helminths such as hookworm are rarely a problem for military units unless they directly contact faecally contaminated soil during tropical operations. Localised epidemics incapacitating small infantry units have been recorded in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville during World War II and in Vietnam, Grenada and Sierra Leone more recently. Scattered hookworm infection cases… Read more »
Abstract: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a flavivirus infection transmitted by Ixodes ticks across Eurasia. Recently, rare indigenous cases of TBE have been reported in the United Kingdom, although most documented traveller infections come from Central Europe. Populations at risk are those undertaking forest activities in the summer, which include some Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel… Read more »
Abstract: Alcohol was widely believed to induce malaria recurrence in the early 20th century, but no physiological mechanism was recognised. Allied military units during World War II experienced vast numbers of malaria infections without any obvious reported overlap with alcohol ingestion. Historical and recent reports of malaria’s relationship to alcohol have been reviewed and found… Read more »
Abstract: Pertussis (whooping cough) is not typically considered an infectious disease of military significance, as its most severe manifestations are primarily restricted to unimmunised children. Pertussis is increasing, particularly in Australia and the Pacific Islands, due to falling immunisation rates and the post-COVID pandemic surge in all respiratory infections. Obscure outbreaks of chronic cough in… Read more »
Abstract: P falciparum infections carry a considerable mortality risk, but the nature of the ‘immunity’ gained from infection experience is uncertain. Although anaemia may contribute some protection against mortality, the function of the spleen appears critical to controlling P falciparum parasitemia and increasing survival. Melanesian reports suggest that survival advantages of P vivax infections and… Read more »
Abstract Black measles (Rubeola nigra) was understood to be an infrequent, severe subtype of measles defined by a very dark, nearly confluent rash in the 19th century. During the US Civil War (1861–65), measles epidemics killed many military recruits on both sides, with a case-fatality rate of 2%. Medical officers described black measles as appearing… Read more »
The conclusion is therefore justified that the cases of ‘mysterious disease’ occurring in Queensland and New South Wales are caused by the same virus as acute poliomyelitis. Anton Breinl, 19181 Clinical diagnostic technology has steadily improved since the revolutionary advancements in medicine and biology of the 19th Century, led by Louis Pasteur. By the time… Read more »
Abstract Acute schistosomiasis is rarely of military concern, but epidemics have disrupted tropical operations. Acute schistosomiasis is particularly challenging to diagnose because it presents as a non-specific febrile disease, often with an urticarial rash before parasites appear in the stool. US Army combat engineers were infected during bridge construction on Leyte in the invasion of… Read more »
Abstract Malaria was a major cause of casualties during World War II in the Southwest Pacific, and drug supply issues were acute strategic concerns. The capture of the cinchona plantations of Indonesia by the Japanese Imperial Army and the lack of manufacturing capacity for synthetic substitutes were significant logistical constraints that limited Allied combat operations… Read more »
The Spanish–American War In 2014, the US Army deployed 2500 soldiers into Liberia, West Africa, as part of a global response to an Ebola outbreak. Despite the fear of viral spread from civilians, no cases of Ebola occurred in US or UK military members, and very few febrile soldiers were seen with other complaints.1 The… Read more »
Abstract: Although dengue became endemic in northern Australia in the 19th century, the enormous movement of people and material during World War II resulted in localised dengue epidemics in Queensland. Factors promoting the epidemics included mixing diverse civilian and military populations, including evacuees from tropical areas, and little focus on preventive measures until outbreaks occurred…. Read more »
Abstract Military prison camps have historically been terrible places with excessive mortality. A review of extant records from the 19th to the 20th century indicates that gastrointestinal mortality dominated in both cold weather and tropical prison camps. Malnutrition and gastrointestinal infections became mutually re-enforcing causes of mortality in prison camps, including Andersonville, Georgia, during the… Read more »
Abstract: Refugees displaced from their usual residence by military conflict may generate malaria epidemics when moving into endemic areas. Examples from the 1980s include Khmer refugees from Cambodia into Thailand and Afghan refugees from Afghanistan into Pakistan. In both cases, civilians with little malaria experience were exposed to both P. vivax and P. falciparum malaria…. Read more »
Abstract Although historically greatly feared due to its ability to kill quickly from dehydration, cholera has not featured in recent ADF military operations except in 2010 when United Nations Peacekeepers from Nepal were linked to the introduction of cholera into post- earthquake Haiti. The collapse of field sanitation during the building of the Thai–Burma railway… Read more »
G. D Shanks Abstract Measles remained a lethal infection during the early 20th century within the military but mortality disappeared prior to immunisation 50 years later. Historical records were reviewed to understand this transition. Measles mortality in soldiers was largely (>80%) due to secondary bacterial pneumonia but this could be highly seasonal, as seen in… Read more »
Abstract As the Army Malaria Institute entered its fifth decade, its research mission expanded and matured. Five research departments were engaged in assessing a variety of malaria drugs, molecular biology, field, clinical and diagnostic studies while arbovirus vaccines and molecular epidemiology topics were studied. Internal and external reviews of the Army Malaria Institute (AMI) were conducted indicating that… Read more »
Abstract The second half of the third decade (1990-1995) after the establishment of the Army Malaria Research Unit was characterised by substantial progress in meeting the challenges posed by drug-resistant malaria. In view of the rapid emergence of drug resistance, laboratory/field studies were carried out to develop novel and improved methods to assess and monitor… Read more »
