1. THE MOSQUITO CAN BE MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE MORTAR ROUND.
- Author
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Smith, Arthur M. and Hooper, Craig
- Subjects
- *
DISEASES in military personnel , *ARMED Forces in foreign countries , *MALARIA prevention , *COUNTERTERRORISM , *MALARIA , *PREVENTIVE health services - Abstract
The article underlines the reality that losses to malaria and other preventable diseases among Allied forces operating in the China-Burma-India far exceeded the number of casualties inflicted by enemy action. Today, as the global war on terrorism evolves, a similar failure to appreciate noncombat environmental threats--including mosquitoes and other disease carrying insect vectors--will once again degrade combat effectiveness of deployed forces. The significance of this caveat was amply demonstrated in August 2003, when a U.S. Marine Corps team, while conducting stabilization operations in Liberia, was hit by a surprise disease outbreak when almost 30 percent of the deployed military personnel contracted malaria.
- Published
- 2005