Emergency typhoid immunisation after the fall of Singapore 1942.

Singapore surrendered to the Japanese invasion in February 1942 after its water supply collapsed. At the suggestion of the colonial medical authorities, an emergency typhoid immunisation campaign was then begun using locally manufactured vaccine from extemporary materials; within 3 months, >600 000 had been immunised. Comparison with prewar statistics suggests that a postsurrender typhoid fever epidemic was prevented despite an increase in other enteric infections.

Historical gold mining infectious disease epidemics.

Lethal infectious disease epidemics have historically occurred in military, refugee and mining camps where crowded conditions promote the spread of enteric, respiratory and insect-borne infections. The early history of gold mines around Palmer River, Queensland in the 1870s, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia in the 1890s and Papua on the island of New Guinea in the 1910s are recounted specifically as it relates to infectious disease deaths. Despite large diagnostic gaps, it is likely that malaria was the predominant problem in Palmer River, typhoid in Kalgoorlie and bacillary dysentery in Papua.

Mystery of blackwater fever from an Australian perspective.

Blackwater fever is a haemolytic syndrome associated with malaria that coincided with the use of quinine chemoprophylaxis. Once quinine was no longer chronically used to prevent malaria, blackwater fever largely disappeared and its aetiology remains poorly understood. Blackwater fever is representative of classical tropical medicine and its history was reflected in Australia's colonial development of Papua New Guinea particularly as reported in the Australian medical literature.

Mining-Associated Malaria Epidemics.

Tropical alluvial gold and gem miners are often an especially at-risk population for malaria infection. Geographical areas of mining-associated malaria epidemics in the recent past include Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar); the Amazon basin (Brazil, French Guyana, Suriname, Columbia, and Peru); and tropical Africa. Mobile populations of young adult men engaged in the hard labor of mining may experience severe malaria especially if they lack preexisting immunity and are irregularly consuming antimalarial drugs.