1940's Medicine and Health | The Center for Disease Control

Epidemics and the War Effort.

Every fall, as Americans begin sneezing and coughing by the thousands, U.S. public-health officials brace themselves for one of nature's most dependable epidemics—influenza. In the 1940s there were other epidemics to fear—polio, malaria, typhus, dengue, and yellow fever, to name a few. Epidemics are caused by highly contagious and rapidly spreading diseases. Many disease carriers were found throughout the country when military personnel and former prisoners of war returned during the war, bringing with them typhus and malaria. These diseases threatened citizens living near military establishments and people working in essential war industries. The federal government felt it had to act.

The Office of Malaria Control in War Areas.

An emergency World War II organization called the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas (MCWA) reduced the danger of malaria transmission in the country....