At least 10 more U.S. troops supporting Joint Task Force-Liberia were suffering Tuesday from malaria-like symptoms and were being flown to the United States for treatment.
Also on Tuesday, two Marines being treated for malaria at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany were listed in serious condition.
A total of 43 troops — 40 Marines and three Navy officers — who had been working in Liberia have been transported from the region since Saturday to be treated for malaria symptoms.
Twelve of the troops were confirmed as having the mosquito-borne disease, according to spokespeople at the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Marie Shaw, a spokeswoman at Landstuhl, said the two Marines in serious condition were “improving well.”
“We’re expecting their full recovery,” she said.
The 43 troops who fell ill all went ashore from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the amphibious landing dock USS Carter Hall, Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler said in Bethesda.
He said Tuesday that some of the Marines being treated at Bethesda were being prepared to be discharged from the hospital.
The servicemembers were working near Monrovia, Liberia, in support of a multinational force that is trying to stabilize the war-torn nation on Africa’s west coast.
Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water and tall grass. The disease kills 3,000 children a day in Africa and robs the continent of millions of dollars in lost productivity, the United Nations said in a report early this year.
Air Force Capt. Sarah Kerwin, a EUCOM spokeswoman, said military personnel who are sent to malaria-prone regions typically take steps to prevent them from being infected, including:
Soaking their uniforms in permethrin, an insect repellent.Taking melfaquin pills before, during and after the deployment.Using Deet insect repellent while on deployment.“Medics in the Marine Corps are looking at predeployment preparation and what caused the Marines and sailors to get malaria,” Kerwin said.
Other officials said that as a precaution, movements of Marines ashore in Liberia from the Iwo Jima and two other U.S. Navy ships off the Liberian coast were being limited for the time being.
There are about 136 U.S. servicemembers still ashore in Liberia, mostly Marines providing security at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The Iwo Jima and two other ships off the coast have about 2,200 Marines and about 2,500 sailors aboard.
