DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was first synthesized in 1874, but its insecticidal properties were not discovered until 1939. Although only slightly toxic to mammals, the compound is lethal to most insects, acting by causing the nerves to fire uncontrollably. It is a colorless solid with a faint "chemical" smell that is insoluble in water but dissolves readily in many organic solvents. It was just coming into mass production in the United States when war broke out, and it proved invaluable for controlling the mosquitos that transmit malaria. The combination of DDT for mosquito control and Atabrine for prophylaxis, together with other mosquito controls such as mosquito netting and proper clothing, reduced the incidence of malaria from up to 80% in some units to less than 10%.
Use of malaria was not restricted to rear areas. By 1944 DDT was being dusted over invasion beaches even before the first troops went ashore, supressing the mosquitos at the same time that conventional bombardment was supressing the Japanese.
Although DDT as an insecticide was discovered by the Swiss chemist
Paul Hermann Müller and its production and use was no military secret,
there is no evidence the Japanese
made use of DDT. As a result, and in spite of the Japanese monopoly on
quinine following their seizure of Java,
malaria rates among Japanese troops remained high. This was
particularly true in units that were cut off by the Allied advance,
where death rates from disease rose to frightening levels.
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2006, 2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index
