The US media recently reported that when it comes to the sworn enemies of the US combat troops who go deep into the battlefield, people will think of enemy snipers lurking in the shadows, mines or "roadside bombs" buried on the road or nuclear bombs, intercontinental missiles or other weapons of mass destruction. However, all of these are not the weapons that the US military is most afraid of, and the fungal insects are one of the real enemies of the US military.
On July 24, 2018, foreign media reported that there is a US Army laboratory at a military base in Australia, the main task is to help the US military prevent mosquito-borne diseases in tropical environments. The lab was founded by 34-year-old microbiologist Jennifer Keuken. Keuken, one of the U.S. Army's 91 microbiologists around the world, tested blood samples from U.S. forces stationed abroad to detect 30 insect-borne diseases endemic to the Indo-Pacific, including Lyme disease, scrub worm disease, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Ross River fever and malaria. For the past year, she has been working at the Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Diseases Institute at Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane, researching how to prevent allied servicemen from infecting mosquitoes and spreading it to the U.S. military fighting on the shoulders. U.S. and South Korean soldiers were attacked by a swarm of wasps during the 2017 Eulji Freedom Guard joint military exercise in South Korea, and the joint exercise was interrupted, resulting in 13 hospitalizations.
During World War II, when General Patton led the U.S. army into Italy, he encountered a small flying insect, the white sandfly. Bitten U.S. troops are often infected with sandfly fever, which results in tens of thousands of U.S. troops being reduced. In the Vietnam War, the blood-sucking ants once frightened and frightened the US military; in the Gulf War, the scorpions in the middle of the Desert became the hidden killers of the US military. Since the outbreak of the Iraq War in 2003, the US military in Iraq has caused 350 people to be infected with black fever and 180 people with leishmaniasis due to insect bites, which once caused panic among US officers and soldiers, because these two diseases are easily transmitted by insects and extremely difficult to treat. In the War in Afghanistan, don't look at the well-equipped US military, you can encounter Afghan mosquitoes, bed bugs, scorpions... Same stop dish. Afghanistan's bed bugs are the most powerful. This is a special group of enemies, barbed wire, machine gun bunkers, minefields can not stop their attack. "These guys don't have either M-16s or AK-47s, and they bite people worse than the Taliban." A U.S. soldier on duty at night talks about the discoloration of "worms." He said that although he put on all the helmets and bulletproof vests, he was still "almost eaten by bugs."
Based on this, a research liaison officer of the U.S. Armed Forces Insect Administration claimed that fungal insects are "alternative killers" of the U.S. military on the battlefield. At present, the Pentagon is launching an "insect war" to develop various drugs and equipment to deal with fungal insects that spread infectious diseases. The more serious problem is that fungal insects not only threaten U.S. officers and men on the battlefield, but also harm them even during military training in peacetime. The threat posed to the U.S. military by fungal insects is very similar to, or even more serious, than more so than 50 years ago. For example, malaria is currently the most dangerous parasitic infectious disease in the world, with millions of African children dying of malaria almost every year, as well as varying degrees of malaria spread on other continents. The U.S. military trains at military bases around the world every year, and at the same time conducts joint military exercises with the militaries of many countries, and in peacetime training, the U.S. military will face the threat of fungal insects. Whenever the local temperature rises, all kinds of small insects begin to rage, making American officers and soldiers suffer. The camp is full of flies, fleas, flying insects, mosquitoes, ants, spiders, and scary-looking wasps that can be trampled to death if you're not careful.
The U.S. military has been tortured by them, and at night it is always bitten and cannot sleep, and it is really miserable to be covered with red envelopes, and some U.S. troops have contracted diseases for this. Previously, U.S. officers and soldiers who had carried out military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan were also deeply affected by Leishmaniasis. It invades the internal organs of the human blood vessels through blood parasites, causing the death of the patient. The terrible disease, which spreads mainly in remote areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America, kills more than 200,000 people each year, and more than 10 million people are infected with leishmaniasis. The main culprit in the spread of this leishmaniasis is a tiny sand fly. If one allows this insignificant sand fly to bite once, one can quickly develop this life-threatening leishmaniasis. Although the disease can be cured, the treatment cycle is long, requires long-term injections, and has serious sequelae.
The U.S. military, which has suffered heavy losses, has allocated huge sums of money and is trying to deal with the fungal insects on the battlefield. At present, with the active cooperation of the United States Drug Administration, the Insect Administration of the United States Armed Forces is deeply studying various effective methods to prevent the spread of plague diseases by fungal insects, including the method of spraying DDT agents to eliminate pests and insects that have been used for more than half a century to the invention of mosquito repellents and instruments, etc., in an attempt to effectively control the situation of bacteria-carrying insects invading the officers and men of the US military. Currently, the Pentagon is implementing a program called the "Project to Protect Warriors against Germ-Carrying Insects." It has been learned that this military plan has been fully implemented, and its focus is on the development and mass production of insecticides, therapeutic medicines, and various protective equipment that have the best results and are particularly suitable for the use of the US military on the battlefield as soon as possible. For example, the US military medical science research department has successfully developed a new type of DDT agent that can be used on the battlefield and take effect immediately to eliminate and stop germical insects. Compared with the old DDT agent, the biggest advantage of this new DDT is that it does not pollute the environment and can simultaneously deal with virus-carrying insects such as mosquitoes, flies and sand flies. It is reported that U.S. military personnel and combat troops who are now on missions in Asia, Africa and Latin America use a harmless mosquito repellent synthesized with a certain chrysanthemum extract and soaked in nylon net tents when they sleep at night.
Under normal circumstances, mosquitoes and other animals carrying viruses will fly away when they smell the fragrance emitted by the tent, and some mosquitoes who have to go close to the account to find Confucius will be poisoned and die. Mosquitoes, fleas, mites, lice, flies and other animals that transmit the virus cannot be wiped out overnight. At present, the front-line combat forces and field reconnaissance units of the US military regard the prevention and control of insect-borne plague as a top priority. The Pentagon requires that U.S. combat troops or field military personnel who are easily exposed to fungal insects must have insect repellent and insecticidal effects, and can help U.S. officers and soldiers avoid these fungal insect pests for at least 3 months. In addition, before the U.S. military performs its mission, it uses unmanned aerial vehicles to spray insecticides on the combat zone that the U.S. military is about to enter to eliminate pests. However, some insects are resistant to the insecticides that have been invented. In Iraq, for example, there is a mosquito called Anopheles mosquito, which is resistant to the now-invented insecticide and is strong enough to allow it to continue to spread malaria. Therefore, the U.S. military's battle with fungal insects will never end. As long as there are fungal insects, this war will not end. (Guangming Daily all-media reporter Sun Lihua)