From the European Start & Stripes: Marines’ bout with malaria still puzzling
NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain ? The first sick Marines arrived aboard the ship from Liberia with their skin riddled with mosquito bites. They became so ill that doctors planned to fly them hundreds of miles away to Germany for more care.
That night, 15 more Marines arrived on the USS Iwo Jima. Some had high fevers and high blood pressure. Many were throwing up and had severe diarrhea. By the next day, 31 Marines were seriously ill and nobody knew why.
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One-third of the people sent to the West African country came down with malaria, according to the Pentagon. Eighty of the 200 Navy, Marine Corps and Department of Defense personnel developed a strain of malaria that kills 25 percent of its victims.
Something I didn’t hammer enough in my earier post on this subject was that antimalarial medications aren’t the only thing that needs to be done to keep the troops healthy. One of the commenters to that post pointed out that the mosquitoes cannot land to infect in even the slightest breezes, making fans a necessity, not a luxury.
Also, DEET, sleeves down, that sort of thing also need to be done. If your people are covered in bites, you’re not getting the job done.


