Gambel J M, Hibbs R G
Division of Preventive Medicine, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100, USA.
Mil Med. 1996 Nov;161(11):638-45.
Many infectious disease threats to U.S. military operations are uncommon in the United States. The advanced development and testing of countermeasures, such as vaccines, drugs, or insect repellents, requires the capability to study militarily important infectious diseases where they occur. With formal agreements between the U.S. and each host country, the U.S. military operates seven overseas medical research laboratories (labs). Six labs conduct infectious disease research and are distributed over three continents: Africa (labs in Egypt and Kenya), Asia (labs in Indonesia and Thailand), and South America (labs in Brazil and Peru). One other lab is located in Germany and conducts psychosocial research related to military personnel and their families. In addition to product development, these labs play vital roles supporting overseas deployments, providing technical training, and promoting international relations. Also, these labs are well positioned to become part of a developing global surveillance and response system to help address the threat posed by emerging infectious diseases. This article will present an overview of this unique medical research capability, describe the history and some of the activities of each lab, and discuss the importance of maintaining these labs in the 21st century.
许多对美国军事行动构成威胁的传染病在美国并不常见。对疫苗、药物或驱虫剂等对策进行先进的研发和测试，需要具备在军事上重要的传染病发生地进行研究的能力。通过美国与每个东道国之间的正式协议，美国军方运营着七个海外医学研究实验室。六个实验室进行传染病研究，分布在三大洲：非洲（埃及和肯尼亚的实验室）、亚洲（印度尼西亚和泰国的实验室）和南美洲（巴西和秘鲁的实验室）。另一个实验室位于德国，进行与军事人员及其家属相关的社会心理研究。除了产品开发，这些实验室在支持海外部署、提供技术培训和促进国际关系方面发挥着至关重要的作用。此外，这些实验室处于有利地位，有望成为发展中的全球监测和应对系统的一部分，以帮助应对新出现的传染病所构成的威胁。本文将概述这一独特的医学研究能力，描述每个实验室的历史和一些活动，并讨论在21世纪维持这些实验室的重要性。
