What was the estimated malaria death toll for US Forces during World War II?
score:14
TL/ DR
The figure of 60,000 fatalities due to malaria seems ridiculously high.
The figures published by the Medical Departments of the various United States armed services in the years after the war provide a figure in the hundreds, rather than in the tens of thousands.
- US Army - 302 deaths due to malaria between 1942 and 1945
- US Navy & US Marine Corps - 87 deaths due to malaria between 1942 and 1945
I haven't been able to locate figures for fatalities due to malaria in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) (which may be included with those for the US Army above, or which may have been reported separately under the auspices the US Air Force after the war) and US Coast Guard between 1942 and 1945, but it seems highly unlikely that those would bring the total anywhere near that quoted in the article you cited.
US Army
Chapter XVII of The Medical Department of the United States Army in World War II, Vol II Infectious Diseases (available on Google Play) deals with the treatment of malaria during the war. The figures presented in the text are much lower, suggesting a total number of fatalities in the hundreds, rather than the tens of thousands.
The Defense Technical Information Center publication Internal Medicine in World War II. Volume 2. Infectious Diseases states that there were 302 deaths of US Army personnel due to malaria in the period 1942-45, 10 of which were within the United States (p460).
Table 61 in the text presents a breakdown of that total, and is reproduced below:
US Navy / US Marine Corps
Volume 3 of The History of the Medical Department of the United States Navy in World War II contains a detailed breakdown of the Statistics of Diseases and Injuries for the United States Navy and US Marine Corps.
Appendix table 1 contains a breakdown of "noncombat injuries" (which includes those suffering from various diseases, including malaria). According to that table (the relevant section of which is reproduced below), there were only 87 fatalities due to malaria between 1942 and 1945, although there were almost 90,000 cases treated:
(The fatalities are listed in the column "DD" ("Discharged dead") under "Dispositions during the period".)
For completeness, the meanings of the abbreviations used in the table are explained on page 5 of that volume as follows:
A (new admission), which denotes that the patient was taken up on the sick list from a duty status with a diagnosis which was not causally related to any diagnosis for which previously admitted or was a separate, distinct, and new occurrence of a previous disability.
EPTE (existed prior to entry), which signifies that the patient was taken up under the same circumstances as described for "A" but that the diagnosed condition was considered to have existed in the patient prior to his entry into the naval service.
ACD (admitted contributory disability), denoting- a disability considered to be a complication or sequela of another diagnosis for which the patient had been previously admitted to the sick list.
AD (additional diagnosis), which indicates an additional concurrent or intercurrent disability in a patient who is on the sick list because of some other disability
D (duty) which indicates that the patient was returned to duty.
DD (died), which signifies that the patient died.
IS (invalided from the service), which denotes that the patient was invalided from the service upon the approved recommendation of a board of medical survey or was placed on the retired list because of physical disability.
"Other,'' which includes those patients whose diagnosis was changed and who were continued on the sick list under another diagnosis, those still on the sick list at the end of the period, and those who deserted while on the sick list.
That figure of 87 fatalities agrees quite closely with the PubMed article you quoted, while the total number of new admissions (113,744) is very close to the figure of 113,256 in that article.
This would suggest that the anti-malarial drugs employed by the US military during the Second World War were very effective when they able to be administered.
More post
- 📝 Sources on common people history
- 📝 Why are only the Normandy landings referred to as D-Day?
- 📝 Did c.1900 France have a law against foreign government resisting its conquest?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 Why did post-colonial Arabs fail to advance in science and technology?
- 📝 The situation in nazi Germany of a Jewish male married to an "aryan" female vs Jewish female married to an "aryan" male?
- 📝 Is there evidence of people moving east to Europe?
- 📝 What proof would a Roman patrician have of his status?
- 📝 What was the ancient Egyptian word for "soldier"?
- 📝 How was the Baalbek Trilithon dated?
- 📝 Why did nationalism in all of Europe surge in the 19th century?
- 📝 Did the third US atomic bomb disappear without a trace?
- 📝 Were biological weapons used in WW1?
- 📝 Are there any historical accounts of Aisha (the wife of Muhammad) giving public speeches?
- 📝 When did the first electronic body modifications take place?
- 📝 Is there a complete list of German cities bombed by the Allies in WWII?
- 📝 WWII documentary series with end credits that used a diorama
- 📝 When did streets get names?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the British Parliament was reluctant to deal with the Nassau Pirates because they made a convenient bogeyman?
- 📝 How difficult was it to spoof the sender of a telegram in 1890-1920's in USA?
- 📝 Country/Area joins war after claiming neutral then attacking
- 📝 Is the following claim concerning the loss of classical Latin literature substantiated?
- 📝 Was Russia the only country in WWII that succeeded in expansionist war aims?
- 📝 Were there any non-Mischling Jews in the Nazi party or military?
- 📝 Why were slave armies used?
- 📝 Typology and the cause of difference between European medieval kingship?
- 📝 What happened to all the nuclear material being smuggled after the fall of the USSR?
- 📝 Did Ted Nugent dodge the draft?
- 📝 Animosity between Mandarin-speaking and Cantonese-speaking Chinese?
- 📝 Why is such a large percentage of Jewish population worldwide in USA
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the estimated malaria death toll for US Forces during World War II?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What kind of wood was the standard decking for aircraft carriers in World War 2?
- 📝 During the defense of the home islands, what was Japan's plan for its forces off-island?
- 📝 What was the death toll during the Inquisition?
- 📝 What was the death rate of Germans outside Germany's post war border after World War 2?
- 📝 What was the most popular food staple among civilians during World War II?
- 📝 What was the extent of military conscription by the German Army during World War 2?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the longest a World War II submarine stayed at sea without being resupplied at a port?
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 What was the ratio women to men after World War 2 in the Soviet Union
- 📝 What was the liquor that was based on petrol which was produced in the USSR during the Second World War?
- 📝 Why was Washington State an attractive site for aluminum production during World War II?
- 📝 During World War I, why were church bells stopped until the war was over?
- 📝 What were the individual soldiers motivated by during World War 1?
- 📝 What weapons were manufactured in India by the British forces which were used during world wars?
- 📝 What is the death toll attributed to US internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII?
- 📝 What was the argument for the Japanese pursuing the Northern Expansion Doctrine during WWII?
- 📝 What was the nominal strength of a company in a British Regiment during the American war of Independence?
- 📝 What effect did the Mafia have during World War 2?
- 📝 What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?
- 📝 What was the English Civil War called during the Protectorate?
- 📝 Did the Central Powers during World War 1 try to sue for peace before the Armistice?
- 📝 What was the procedure for prosecuting criminals in England between the World Wars?
- 📝 What was the Soviet reasoning for developing their Airborne Forces (VDV) into a powerful military branch?
- 📝 What is the best way to describe the form of Japanese government during the years before and during world war 2?
- 📝 What was the alcoholic beverage of choice for British soldiers during WW2?
- 📝 What were conditions like for Chinese men subject to recruitment by the army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War?
- 📝 What did people used to exchange for goods during the 1920s German hyperinflation while the official currency was not trusted