EPIDEMIC ENCEPHALITIS IN MILITARY PERSONNEL

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Abstract
A disease clinically similar to the Japanese B type of epidemic encephalitis was known to occur during the late summer months on Okinawa, predominantly among children.1 However, it was not established that the Japanese B virus was the etiologic agent. On July 8, 1945 several cases of encephalitis were recognized in the native population on Heanza Shima, a small island 2 miles east of Okinawa, by Lieut. L. M. Miller, and on July 10, 1945 Lieut. Comdr. (later Comdr.) Leon Lewis (MC), U.S.N.R., of the Military Government discovered 4 patients with encephalitis in a large civilian hospital on Okinawa.2 By the end of July, with the aid of the complement fixation test developed by Casals and Palacios3 a diagnosis of epidemic encephalitis due to virus infection of the Japanese B type was made in several of these early cases by members of the Naval Medical Research Unit