Sweeney T, 2003. Malaria Frontline: Australian Army research during World War II. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press.
Howie-Willis I, 2016. An Unending War: The Australian Army’s Struggle Against Malaria, 1885–2015. Newport, Australia: Big Sky Publishing Ltd.
Black R, 1973. Malaria in the Australian army in South Vietnam. Successful use of a proguanil-dapsone combination for chemoprophylaxis of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria. Med J Aust 1: 1265–1270.
Shanks GD, 2009. Simultaneous epidemics of influenza and malaria in the Australian Army in Palestine in 1918. Med J Aust 191: 654–657.
O’Keefe B, Smith FB, 1994. Medicine at War: Medical Aspects of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asia, 1950–1972. Sydney, Australia: Allen and Unwin.
Canfield C, 1972. Malaria in US military personnel 1965–1971. Proc Helminthol Soc Wash 39: 15–18.
Walzer PD, Gibson JJ, Schultz MG, 1974. Malaria fatalities in the United States. Am J Trop Med Hyg 23: 328–333.
Beadle C, Hoffman SL, 1993. History of malaria in the United States naval forces at war: World War I through the Vietnam conflict. Clin Infect Dis 16: 320–329.
Gullett HS, 1923. The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914–1918. Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson.
Walker AS, 1957. The Island Campaigns. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial.
Shanks GD, 2015. Synergistic mortality caused by Plasmodium falciparum during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Am J Trop Med Hyg 92: 941–942.
Walker AS, 1952. Middle East and Far East. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial.
Wilson T, Reid J, 1949. Malaria among prisoners of war in Siam (“F” Force). Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 43: 257–272.
Robinson P, Jenney AW, Tachado M, Yung A, Manitta J, Taylor K, Biggs BA, 2001. Imported malaria treated in Melbourne, Australia: epidemiology and clinical features in 246 patients. J Travel Med 8: 76–81.
Wertheimer ER, Brundage JF, Fukuda MM, 2011. High rates of malaria among US military members born in malaria-endemic countries. Emerg Infect Dis 17: 1701–1703.
Blum P, Stephens D, 2001. Severe falciparum malaria in five soldiers from east Timor: a case series and literature review. Anaesth Intensive Care 29: 426–434.
Whitman TJ, Coyne PE, Magill AJ, Blazes DL, Green MD, Milhous WK, Burgess TH, Freilich D, Tasker SA, Azar RG, 2010. An outbreak of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in US Marines deployed to Liberia. Am J Trop Med Hyg 83: 258–265.
Davies SE, Rushton S, 2015 . Helping or Harming? United Nations Peacekeepers and Health. Providing for Peacekeeping. New York, NY: International Peace Institute.
Houston S, Houston A, 2015. Screening and treating UN peacekeepers to prevent the introduction of artemisinin-resistant malaria into Africa. PLoS Med 12: e1001822.
Eick-Cost AA, Hu Z, Rohrbeck P, Clark LL, 2017. Neuropsychiatric outcomes after mefloquine exposure among U.S. Military service members. Am J Trop Med Hyg 96: 159–166.
Tuck J, Williams J, 2016. Malaria protection in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak 2014/15; The UK military experience with malaria chemoprophylaxis Sep 14–Feb 15. Travel Med Infect Dis 14: 471–474.
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Malaria has been a military problem throughout history capable of causing epidemics that stop military operations. Individual mortality was examined from records of the three major wars of the 20th century that involved Australia in which 133 (1914–1919), 92 (1943–1945), and two (1965–1967) soldiers are known to have died with malaria. Those dying were predominately enlisted soldiers with a mean age of 29 years often complicated by other infections such as influenza, pneumonia or scrub typhus. Lethal epidemics of falciparum malaria occurred in Palestine/Syria in October 1918 and New Guinea in September 1943 to March 1944. Although no Australian soldier has died in nearly 50 years from malaria, there were three serious falciparum infections in soldiers in East Timor 1999–2000 who might have died if intensive care had not been provided. Recent military deployments into Africa including United Nations contingents still show falciparum malaria’s lethality despite the availability of effective malaria chemoprophylaxis.
Author’s address: G. Dennis Shanks, Australian Army Malaria Institute, Enoggera, Australia, School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, United Kingdom, E-mail: dennis.shanks@defence.gov.au.
Financial support: The author is an employee of the Australian Defence Organization and a retired U.S. Army medical officer but did not receive any specific funding for this study.
Sweeney T, 2003. Malaria Frontline: Australian Army research during World War II. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press.
Howie-Willis I, 2016. An Unending War: The Australian Army’s Struggle Against Malaria, 1885–2015. Newport, Australia: Big Sky Publishing Ltd.
Black R, 1973. Malaria in the Australian army in South Vietnam. Successful use of a proguanil-dapsone combination for chemoprophylaxis of chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria. Med J Aust 1: 1265–1270.
Shanks GD, 2009. Simultaneous epidemics of influenza and malaria in the Australian Army in Palestine in 1918. Med J Aust 191: 654–657.
O’Keefe B, Smith FB, 1994. Medicine at War: Medical Aspects of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asia, 1950–1972. Sydney, Australia: Allen and Unwin.
Canfield C, 1972. Malaria in US military personnel 1965–1971. Proc Helminthol Soc Wash 39: 15–18.
Walzer PD, Gibson JJ, Schultz MG, 1974. Malaria fatalities in the United States. Am J Trop Med Hyg 23: 328–333.
Beadle C, Hoffman SL, 1993. History of malaria in the United States naval forces at war: World War I through the Vietnam conflict. Clin Infect Dis 16: 320–329.
Gullett HS, 1923. The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914–1918. Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson.
Walker AS, 1957. The Island Campaigns. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial.
Shanks GD, 2015. Synergistic mortality caused by Plasmodium falciparum during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Am J Trop Med Hyg 92: 941–942.
Walker AS, 1952. Middle East and Far East. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial.
Wilson T, Reid J, 1949. Malaria among prisoners of war in Siam (“F” Force). Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 43: 257–272.
Robinson P, Jenney AW, Tachado M, Yung A, Manitta J, Taylor K, Biggs BA, 2001. Imported malaria treated in Melbourne, Australia: epidemiology and clinical features in 246 patients. J Travel Med 8: 76–81.
Wertheimer ER, Brundage JF, Fukuda MM, 2011. High rates of malaria among US military members born in malaria-endemic countries. Emerg Infect Dis 17: 1701–1703.
Blum P, Stephens D, 2001. Severe falciparum malaria in five soldiers from east Timor: a case series and literature review. Anaesth Intensive Care 29: 426–434.
Whitman TJ, Coyne PE, Magill AJ, Blazes DL, Green MD, Milhous WK, Burgess TH, Freilich D, Tasker SA, Azar RG, 2010. An outbreak of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in US Marines deployed to Liberia. Am J Trop Med Hyg 83: 258–265.
Davies SE, Rushton S, 2015 . Helping or Harming? United Nations Peacekeepers and Health. Providing for Peacekeeping. New York, NY: International Peace Institute.
Houston S, Houston A, 2015. Screening and treating UN peacekeepers to prevent the introduction of artemisinin-resistant malaria into Africa. PLoS Med 12: e1001822.
Eick-Cost AA, Hu Z, Rohrbeck P, Clark LL, 2017. Neuropsychiatric outcomes after mefloquine exposure among U.S. Military service members. Am J Trop Med Hyg 96: 159–166.
Tuck J, Williams J, 2016. Malaria protection in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak 2014/15; The UK military experience with malaria chemoprophylaxis Sep 14–Feb 15. Travel Med Infect Dis 14: 471–474.
Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 722 | 664 | 20 |
Full Text Views | 344 | 12 | 0 |
PDF Downloads | 174 | 13 | 0 |