The U.S. military has a long tradition of trying to keep the troops safe from disease and away from the vectors carrying those ailments. This tradition continues today as service members face a host of diseases, including going into areas endemic with Ebola.

“Even in the earliest days of the Revolutionary War, George Washington recognized the value in variolation (an early form of immunization) of the Continental Army to prevent smallpox,” says Dale C. Smith, PhD, professor of military medicine and history at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. “We apply the same command of health principles today – isolation of possibly infected individuals, control of pests carrying disease and proper sanitation – to mitigate serious threats to the health of American troops and their families.”

Smith says the military has always taken a multi-faceted approach in these efforts.  The first of these, primary prevention, involves changing behaviors to prevent disease or illness.  Secondary prevention uses certain medical procedures to detect if someone has a disease, then developing a plan of treatment to prevent a person’s health from getting worse. Tertiary prevention focuses on helping people manage long-term health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. 

“Our overall goal is to further physical and mental preparedness and maximize the quality of life,” says Smith.

Army medical research has and continues to play an important role in national defense by consistently responding to potential battle and non-battle threats. Whether it is influenza, meningococcal diseases, hepatitis A and B, or Japanese encephalitis vaccines, the U.S. Army figured prominently in many areas of vaccine development. Today, the Army leads a joint effort striving to find vaccines against hepatitis E, dengue, drug-resistant malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Military researchers have also led improvements with burn care and treatment, as well as hemorrhage control.

When responding to emerging threats to national security, such as the Ebola virus outbreak, the Military Health System has considerable support in the biomedical community of the United States. Support through various commissions, boards and committees enabled American fighting forces to achieve notable breakthroughs relative to infectious disease.

“For example, during World War II, the Army Medical Research Board in Panama conducted early studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of atabrine as a prophylactic drug against malaria, used by U.S. forces in the Pacific Theater,” says Smith. “It made the difference in the war.”

He added similar studies by the Army identified hookworms as the cause of anemia in local farm workers in Puerto Rico and the southern states in the U.S. The American Typhus Commission, a joint military-civilian organization, also implemented field trials for vaccines. 

 “We’ll use all our resources and take a proactive approach to uphold the Military Health System’s vision and purpose: Enhance, protect, treat and heal American service members, so they remain the greatest fighting force in the world.”