DGMS Adv LHQ
SUBJECT: STAGING AREA 2 – ADV LHQ SITE
PRELIMINARY HYGIENE REPORT
DDMS Adv LHQ
Staging Area 2
- AD of H Adv LHQ inspected this site 23 Feb 1945
- TERRAIN:
Low lying coral sand flats cultivated with coconuts. Flanked by sea on two sides – coral bottomed MOROTAI strait side, sandy beach HALMHERAS sea-side. About one ft. of clay-loam above coral sand.
- SANITATION:
(a) Sullage: US Troops in the area have disposed of sullage by various means, sometimes by pipe line to the sea, sometimes by pipe line to brackish swamps behind the beach, sometimes onto the surface of the ground.
Some of the swamps are partly filled with dumped coconuts, cans and other litter and are very foul in some places.
Drainage should provide no problems, sullage may be run to absorption underground, the absorptive capacity of the sub-coil being apparently unlimited below the super-imposed loam.
Accumulation of rain water in shallow depressions which have been permitted to stagnate and have been polluted from various sources can be effectively and permanently drained by cutting through the shallow loam layer and exposing the coral sand at the lowest point of the depression.
(b) Refuse: In conformity with US practice refuse burned, partly burned and unburned have been dumped indiscriminately.
All refuse should be completely incinerated in accordance with Australian practice. Incombustible material should be buried daily, being used to fill depressions to corduroy tracks etc. Dumping of incombustible material at sea is not favoured because apart from being bad training it is liable to abuse is not without danger and makes unnecessary demands on transport.
(c) Latrines: Some of the existing latrines are nearly full and will be closed, other are still serviceable and will be retained.
In certain areas DTLs are quite practicable, in others, a high hard coral sub-soil makes excavation difficult and Down-draught incinerator latrines are indicated.
Where DTLs are used sub-soil water must not be tapped with domestic supply.
(d) Tent Siting: It is noticed that tents have been sited occasionally in depressions lying parallel to the beach, such depressions as elsewhere in the tropics are usually water-filled during the wet season. Lacking any definite meteorological information about MOROTAI it is not possible to assess the risk or otherwise of this siting, but attention is directed to it.
- WATER SUPPLY:
(a) Source: Water is obtained from shallow bores (90-146 ft.) shallow wells (15 ft.) and from springs.
(b) Character: Water is clear, potable, slightly hard. Horrocks test 2 – 3 scoops.
(c) Treatment: Chlorinated in bulk without filtration or prolonged storage.
(d) Delivery: By water cart from reticulated water points.
- SPECIAL DISEASE CONSIDERATIONS:
(a) Malaria: Should be controlled without difficulty provided surface water is eliminated by sub-soil drainage as recommended. Unit malaria discipline must be maintained at the highest standard, both for purposes of discipline and to minimise risk of infection from outside areas.
(b) Dengue: Dengue is likely to be the most fruitful source of casualties, breeding grounds of the vector exist in profusion, in palms, coconut husks, discarded cans and thrash dumps.
Considerable amount of work is required to remove these by burning, by disposal at sea, or by burial. Burning is the method of election for coconuts and similar wastes since it implies complete and permanent destruction. It may, however, not be practicable during persistent rain. Disposal at sea involves labour, transport and is unsatisfactory owing to dispersion of floating wastes by variable conditions of wind and current. Washed up on beaches in the same or another area coconuts would still constitute a problem. Burial suffers the disadvantage of providing concentrations of food and harbourage for rats and consequent danger of leptospirosis, typhus and plague.
First choice should be burning were practicable. Burial may be used as an alternative when burning is impossible but must be supplemented by baiting and complete eradication of surface water.
In an effort to control Dengue the area must be cleared and kept cleared of litter and undergrowth, tents and huts must be sprayed daily and potential breeding places kept under careful scrutiny. Since palm breeding cannot be controlled except by aerial spraying with DDT, the probability of persistent uncontrolled breeding must be faced. It may be necessary to order the use of repellent and to enforce daylight clothing discipline.
Consideration might be given to the desirability of permitting staging troops to become infected with dengue, and to establish a relative immunity whilst inactive in the area. In favour of such policy it may be said that troops might thus inexpensively acquire an immunity likely to protect them in action in uncontrolled areas. In this way the experiences of the HUON Peninsula MARKHAM-RAMU Campaigns might be avoided.
Against the policy it must be remembered that it constitutes bad training in camp management which may have costly and embarrassing consequences in some future situation, that the same vector is likely to infect troops with Filariasis, that in other areas the neglected breeding places may favour malaria vector breeding and that reinforcements passing quickly through the staging area may arrive in forward areas ill.
(c) Leptospirosis: Japanese had casualties including deaths from Leptospirosis on MOROTAI. The site of the infected camps is not known but all foul swamp water to which rats have access must be suspected. The dumping of coconuts on the banks of or in streams would create conditions favourable for an epidemic.
All surface water should be drained from camps by the simple expedient of exposing the sub-soil coral at the lowest point of every depression. Rats should be systematically poisoned, harbourage removed, and coconuts burned.
As infection is by contact with polluted water bathing should be prohibited except in authorised areas.
(d) Schistosomiasis: US Troops evacuated from LEYTE have been found infected with Schistosomiasis, some fatally. Infection rate is probably much higher than is yet realised. US authorities attributed infection to LEYTE but the incubation period is still consistent with infection in the staging areas before D Day. As the infecting helminth is the Japanese species it may have been disseminated by Japanese troops and may now occur in hitherto free areas.
Bathing except in authorised places must be strictly prohibited and refraining from bathing in unauthorised pools must be made an integral part of the soldier’s military discipline.
Chlorination does not affect destruction of the infective cercariae – storage for 48 hours will render water safe. Uncontaminated well water may be considered safe, but where water is drawn from pools or streams an effort should be made to store it for 48 hrs before distribution. Where this is impracticable the danger should be borne in mind and the water boiled before use.
Such precautions will be inapplicable in action, particularly where troops are required to cross streams. Consideration should be given by AAMC to desirability and practicability of research for an efficient repellent to protect the skin. Research should also be conducted into the identity of the small hosts so that a rough and ready identifying description may be circulated to units.
(e) Ankylostomiasis: Soil in the area is suitable for transmission of hook worms. Soil pollution must therefore be avoided and dogs excluded from cap areas. Troops should be warned of the likelihood of infection by the larvae of dog hook worms and the development of the condition known as larvae migrans, following exposure of the bare skin direct to the soil in the neighbourhood of abandoned camps and native villages. Boots must be worn at all times.
GENERAL:
General measures of personnel hygiene in the tropics – particularly water, salt and vitamin intake, adequacy of diet, avoidance of native villages and congress with native women – must be constantly maintained.
C.E. Cook Lt-Col,
ADH Adv LHQ
HQ 1 Aust Base Sub Area
Staging Area 2
23 Feb 45