Re: What IF: ... Japan had more Oilers for Dec.7'41 ?

On Aug 27, 6:59=A0pm, Stephen Graham wrote:

> > With the Japanese holding the world's only sources of quinine, the
> > only drug then effective against malaria.
>
> What on earth are you on about? Quinine is a derivative of a tree that's
> native to Peru.

Does no one at this site use google ?

"Use and supply of quinine was continued until 1941, when Japan
invaded Java (at that point supplier of 95% of the world's Cinchona
bark) and prevented its ex****t..."

comes from    http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/wiki/index.php/It:Quinine

There are several other non-wiki URLs that provide similar
confirmations.

So, "my" Japanese invade the Philipines later than historically
happened, with the benefits of plentiful supplies of quinine while the
Ameicans and their Philipino allies have, no fresh supplies. Guess
which side is badly hit by the malaria endemic to the PI, and which
side, isn't hit at all ?

Having been felled by malaria in Thailand in 1981/2 I can assure you
that it does nothing good for your fighting abilities nor your will to
live. And that was with the benefit of much more modern, potent drug
treatments. I don't even wish to imagine coming down with it in
1941/2.

Historically both sides suffered just about equally from malaria in
the PI, overall. The Japanese had high early infection rates until
they were able to distribute captured US quinine to their troops while
the Americans, initially relatively free of it, suffered badly later
in the campaign since so much of the anti-malarial drug supply had
been spoiled by the heat/humidity or left behind, to Japan's benefit,
during the paniced retreats to Bataan etc.