page_title: Kokoda Track campaign
section_title: Disease
hierarchical_section_title: Kokoda Track campaign / Background / Disease
caption_attribution_description: English: Efogi North, Papua, 1942-10-15. The tents of 2/4th Field Ambulance are set up at a temporary camp on a partially cleared slope in the jungle along the Kokoda Trail. The Field Ambulance was delayed here for a day in its progress along the trail by the need to perform an emergency arm amputation. (Donor A. Hobson)
context_page_description: The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was primarily a land battle, between the Japanese South Seas Detachment under Major General Tomitarō Horii and Australian and Papuan land forces under command of New Guinea Force. The Japanese objective was to seize Port Moresby by an overland advance from the north coast, following the Kokoda Track over the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range, as part of a strategy to isolate Australia from the United States.
  Japanese forces landed and established beachheads near Gona and Buna on 21 July 1942. Opposed by Maroubra Force, then consisting of four platoons of the 39th Battalion and elements of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, they quickly advanced and captured Kokoda and its strategically vital airfield on 29 July. Despite reinforcement, the Australian forces were continually pushed back. The veteran Second Australian Imperial Force 21st Brigade narrowly avoided capture in the Battle of Mission Ridge – Brigade Hill from 6 to 8 September.
context_section_description: Operations in New Guinea were impacted by tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, scrub typhus, tropical ulcers, dysentery from a range of causes and fungal infections. Walker observes that the Kokoda Track "starts and ends with malaria". Malarial vectors were substantially absent from the cooler, higher elevations along the track. Most cases observed in these areas were relapses rather than primary infections. The immediate vicinity of Port Moresby is relatively dry. While this tends to mitigate the risk of malaria, significant rates of the disease were observed in troops, mainly militia, sent to New Guinea for defence of the port, leading up to the campaign. The risk from malaria was particularly high for troops operating in the coastal area around the southern end of the track and when the Australian forces had been forced back to Imita Ridge. AIF units returning from the Middle East were more aware of the threat this disease posed and arrived with supplies of quinine. For these reasons, the disease did not have the same degree of significance or impact on operations as it did at Milne Bay or the subsequent operations at Buna–Gona.
  Anderson recounts the prevalence of dysentery among Australian troops, while James reports that "more and more [Japanese] succumbed" to diseases, including dysentery, as they withdrew along the track. Walker attributes enteric infections to poor field hygiene, contaminated and unpurified water, and a failure to make adequate sanitary provisions along the track during the early part of the campaign. He also identifies that a proportion of diarrhoeal disturbances were attributable to the poor diet (particularly the high-fat content of tinned beef) rather than infection.
caption: Tents of the 2/4th Field Ambulance near Efogi (AWM P02423.011)
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}