The United States Army Medical Research Unit-Brazil (USAMRU-B) was a "Special Foreign Activity" of the

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The institute is centered at the Forest Glen Annex, in the Forest Glen Park part of the uni ...

headquartered in

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

with several satellite labs in the Brazilian hinterland.

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

(2000), ''Strategies to Protect the Health of Deployed U.S. Forces: Assessing Health Risks to Deployed Health Forces, Workshop Proceedings'',

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

National Academy Press The US National Academies Press (NAP) was created to publish the reports issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Research Co ...

, pg 103. Both American and Brazilian scientists worked at the unit which was created in 1973 and closed in 1997. USAMRU-B operated under a cooperative agreement with the Instituto de Biologia do Exercito (IBEX, the “Institute of Biology of the Brazilian Army”). USAMRU-B collaborated on research with IBEX, the

PAHO The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency working to improve the health and living standards of the people of the Americas. It is part of the United Nations system, serving as the Regional Office for ...

, University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, and the Instituto de Medicine Tropical do Amazonas to investigate infectious diseases in the

Brazilian Amazon Brazilian commonly refers to: * Something of, from or relating to Brazil * Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil * Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent Brazilian may also ...

. Much of the research done at USAMRU-B focused on tropical diseases, such as

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus ''Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most freq ...

dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...

leptospirosis Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacteria ''Leptospira''. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild (headaches, muscle pains, and fevers) to severe ( bleeding in the lungs or meningitis). Weil's disease, the acute, severe ...

hantaviruses ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of single-stranded, enveloped, negative-sense RNA viruses in the family '' Hantaviridae'' within the order ''Bunyavirales''. Members of this genus may be called orthohantaviruses or simply hantaviruses. Orthohantav ...

rickettsia ''Rickettsia'' is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci (0.1 μm in diameter), bacilli (1–4 μm long), or threads (up to about 10 μm long). The term "rickett ...

and enteropathogens as well as other

emerging infectious disease An emerging infectious disease (EID) is an infectious disease whose incidence has increased recently (in the past 20 years), and could increase in the near future. The minority that are capable of developing efficient transmission between human ...

s. Its decommissioning came as the result of political difficulties between US and Brazilian military leadership.

References

Closed installations of the United States Army Closed research facilities of the United States Army Closed medical research facilities of the United States Army Military units and formations established in 1973 Military units and formations disestablished in 1997 Research institutes in Brazil Medical and health organisations based in Brazil {{US-mil-stub

See also

References