"...the US military's contribution to global health could mostly disappear."

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013 Dec 26;7(12):e2448.

United States Military Tropical Medicine: Extraordinary Legacy, Uncertain Future.

Beaumier CM1, Gomez-Rubio AM1, Hotez PJ2, Weina PJ3.

Author information

• 1Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America ; Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
• 2Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America ; Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Houston, Texas, United States of America ; James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
• 3Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America.

 "At the current rate of increased exodus and decreased acquisition of talented professionals, the US military's contribution to global health could mostly disappear.

It is almost certain that the tropical infectious disease threats we have faced in the past decade will increase should the US military enter into new theatres of operation (Figure 1). For example, an increased presence in the Pacific would bring thousands of our troops into areas endemic for dengue fever, enterovirus 71, and chikungunya, for which we currently have rudimentary preventive measures and which, based on past conflicts, could have a devastating effect on our forces. We will be facing equally grave threats if we advance further into the African continent, facing not only terrorist organizations and warring factions but old foes like malaria and other parasitic infections, viral hemorrhagic fevers, diarrhea, and respiratory diseases. Conflicts and peacekeeping in the northern reaches of Latin America would bring more malaria, CL and VL, Chagas disease, and a host of arboviral diseases. Any or all of these scenarios could play out should the US military leave the Middle East for other regions."