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War Surgery and Medicine

MALARIA IN THE PACIFIC

MALARIA IN THE PACIFIC

In the Pacific the conquest of malaria was a fundamental and important problem as malaria was endemic in most of the islands captured by the Japanese. There was no malaria in New Zealand, New Caledonia, or Fiji, but it was highly endemic in the New Hebrides, the Solomons, New Guinea, and the islands of the East Indies. Malaria contributed greatly to the unhappy termination of the courageous defence of Bataan, it being estimated that 85 per cent of the American forces became infected. The rate of malaria in the Japanese troops in the South-West Pacific was close on 100 per cent, often with complications of dysentery and beriberi, and the death rate was high—up to 10 per cent. In New Guinea malaria was the greatest obstacle to successful military operations by both sides. In the Papuan campaign (January 1942 to February 1943) the Australians had 6154 battle casualties and 29,101 casualties from tropical diseases, of whom 21,600 were malaria cases. page 529 Probably 80 per cent of the force were actually infected. At this stage it was reported that malaria discipline was poor, suppressive drugs were not taken well, and there was interference either from enemy action or other causes with essential anti-malaria supplies. In subsequent campaigns there was a tremendous improvement in the Australian casualty rate.

map of maliarial areas

MALARIOUS AREAS IN SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC