In 1962, the Army, with a goal of coordinating and possibly expanding military medical research laboratories in Southeast and East Asia, sent WRAIR researchers to evaluate the situation. The group’s recommendations led to cooperation with the Institut Pasteur in Saigon, Vietnam, and, in 1965, to the establishment of a WRAIR medical research unit in Saigon whose scientists initially focused on infectious disease, combat surgery, and military psychology. By the team’s third year of operation, individual members were launching their own studies and supporting the research of others, often through the collection of medical information or health data for WRAIR and other Army researchers. Team members also conducted field clinical trials for new disease-fighting drugs, including several antimalarials, coming out of the Army’s research pipeline. The Field Epidemiological Survey Team (FEST), a Special Forces contingent trained by WRAIR researchers in laboratory and epidemiological skills, gathered field data on a variety of diseases, including dengue fever, malaria, tropical sprue, febrile illness, and parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis and filariasis.

As the Vietnam War escalated, the Army surgeon general, acting on the recommendation of WRAIR’s Saigon team, approved the establishment of a central hospital for malaria patients at Cam Ranh Bay. By 1968, the malaria microorganism – which develops drug resistance rapidly – had become the focal point of the largest single program of medical research in the Army’s history. By this time, nearly half the intramural research effort of the Research and Development Command was conducted by WRAIR scientists.

WRAIR’s Vietnam-era research, in addition to its expansive malaria program, covered a broad spectrum. It continued to study the prevention and treatment of other tropical diseases in Southeast Asia, and collaborated on the construction of a plague research laboratory that led to the production of a vaccine. To combat the incidence of bacterial and fungal skin diseases – which afflicted up to half of the men in some rifle companies in the Mekong Delta – WRAIR dispatched a field dermatology research team whose work led to the development of new footgear, protective ointments, and treatments for Soldiers.

In 1966, WRAIR’s Vietnam contingent added a Surgical Research Team that developed improved techniques for the treatment of battlefield trauma and shock, including field-adapted treatments for shock; polymeric tissue adhesives and hemorrhage suppressants; a quick-curing silicone material for stabilizing serious injuries to the mouth before evacuation; an ointment to protect burn victims from infection; and various methods for suppressing the body’s immune response to grafts and transplants. The group also studied innovations such as electrical anesthesia, synthetic blood vessels, plasma expanders, and new blood preservatives.

The minds of soldiers were of great concern to WRAIR researchers during the Vietnam War. The work of Dr. David Marlowe laid the scientific foundation for future investigations into post-traumatic stress, while psychiatric researchers such as Dr. Harry C. Holloway and Larry H. Ingraham, Ph.D. – who later wrote The Boys in the Barracks, a landmark observation of Army life – investigated the rampant rate of substance abuse among soldiers. By 1973, the Army estimated that just over a third of the U.S. soldiers in Southeast Asia had commonly used heroin. After WRAIR scientists provided the DoD with its first valid data on the problem, the Army instituted a drug-screening program and a non-punitive approach aimed at helping users seek treatment, while preserving the Army’s fighting strength and combat effectiveness.

After the discovery of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, the Medical Research and Development Command was named the lead agency for the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP), which is conducted by WRAIR with support from USAMRU-K and AFRIMS. The USMHRP was the first research laboratory to identify HIV-1 heterosexual transmission, and later demonstrated the first efficacy of an HIV vaccine.

The psychosocial difficulties of Vietnam soldiers led the Army to establish, in 1977, the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe (USAMRU-E) in Heidelberg, Germany, which was relocated to Sembach, Germany, with recent installation closures. This WRAIR special foreign activity, initially focused on the causes, cures, and prevention of psychiatric battle casualties, has since expanded its focus to facilitate resilience through investigations of the broad range of stressors acting upon – and the coping capabilities unique to – soldiers, their families, and their command units.

 

Transformation

The Cold War reached a peak of sorts in the 1980s: While there would be no more drawn-out proxy wars fought by troops in distant lands, there was a massive buildup of U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals, and a sustained effort to maintain military readiness as troops engaged in a series of limited, rapid deployments.

This effort required USAMRMC, anchored by WRAIR, to maintain its focus on research into diseases and disorders of military significance. Chief among these research efforts were programs aimed at vaccinations and treatments for infectious diseases, especially in tropical locations. WRAIR and its overseas installations – USAMC-AFRIMS, USAMRU-K, USAMRU-Brasilia (operational from 1973 to 1999) and USAMRU-Republic of Korea (1988 to 1993) – played a leading role in research aimed at a variety of diseases including Japanese encephalitis, malaria, hepatitis A, hantavirus, leptospirosis, typhus, ebola, and leishmaniasis. The WRAIR/AFRIMS collaboration supported a U.S. Army efficacy trial of the first Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine, produced by the Biken Institute (Japan), which was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration based on this data. When this product was no longer available, a second generation JE vaccine, originating from WRAIR, was licensed in 2010, the product of a series of cooperative research and development agreements between WRAIR and industry partners. It is the only licensed JE vaccine currently available for U.S. citizens.

After the discovery of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, the Medical Research and Development Command was named the lead agency for the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP), which is conducted by WRAIR with support from USAMRU-K and AFRIMS. The USMHRP was the first research laboratory to identify HIV-1 heterosexual transmission, and later demonstrated the first efficacy of an HIV vaccine.