Army malaria institute: Its evolution and achievements. First decade: 1965-1975

• Published in: Journal of military and veterans' health. Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 17 - 24
• Main Authors: Karl H Rieckmann, Anthony W Sweeney
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canberra Department of Defence 01.04.2012
• Subjects: Australia; Australian Army; Malaria; Mosquitoes as carriers of disease; Prevention
• ISSN: 1835-1271

This article describes the resumption of malaria research activities by the Australian Army during the mid-1960s - about 20 years after they were discontinued at the end of World War II. At the start of the decade, some malaria infections were no longer being suppressed adequately by proguanil or chloroquine, whereas the addition of dapsone to the prophylactic regimen was effective in preventing falciparum malaria during military operations in Vietnam. However, severe toxicity observed in a few individuals following the use of this drug combination emphasized the need to develop alternative prophylactic regimens. The small malaria research unit was able to demonstrate potentiation of antimalarial activity between proguanil and dapsone in a rodent malaria model, raising the possibility that a drug combination using lower (and non-toxic) doses of dapsone might be effective in protecting soldiers against drug-resistant malaria. This synergistic drug activity was only able to be determined in mice inoculated with blood from other infected mice because routine malaria transmission via infected mosquitoes reared in the insectary proved difficult. Although anopheline mosquito colonies could not be used successfully to determine the causal prophylactic activity of drugs against sporozoite-induced infections, they were becoming useful for investigating the biological properties of a novel fungus discovered to attack mosquito larvae in the insectary. Initial plans to evaluate the effectiveness of new antimalarial drugs in soldier volunteers were shelved in favour of taking appropriate measures to procure Aotus monkeys in which drug activity against human malarial parasites could be assessed.