Parasitic Diseases as the Cause of Death of Prisoners of War during the Korean War (1950-1953).
- Author:
Sun HUH
1
Author Information
1. Department of Parasitology and Institute of Medical Education, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Chuncheon 200-702, Korea. shuh@hallym.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Brief Communication ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords:
parasitic disease;
cause of death;
Korean War;
paragonimiasis;
malaria;
amoebiasis
- MeSH:
Cause of Death;
China;
Human Migration;
Humans;
Japan;
Korea;
Korean War;
Parasitic Diseases/*mortality;
Prisoners of War
- From:The Korean Journal of Parasitology
2014;52(3):335-337
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
To determine the cause of death of prisoners of war during the Korean War (1950-1953), death certificates or medical records were analyzed. Out of 7,614 deaths, 5,013 (65.8%) were due to infectious diseases. Although dysentery and tuberculosis were the most common infectious diseases, parasitic diseases had caused 14 deaths: paragonimiasis in 5, malaria in 3, amoebiasis in 2, intestinal parasitosis in 2, ascariasis in 1, and schistosomiasis in 1. These results showed that paragonimiasis, malaria, and amoebiasis were the most fatal parasitic diseases during the early 1950s in the Korean Peninsula. Since schistosomiasis is not endemic to Korea, it is likely that the infected private soldier moved from China or Japan to Korea.
