There are five major diseases that will cause disruption and medical evacuation for the deployed medic: Malaria, Acute respiratory illness, Diarrhoeal diseases and Tuberculosis. We call these the MADAT killers.

The five minor diseases may not kill your casualty but will cause major operational disruptions and require medical evacuation. These five are Ascariasis, Buruli ulcer (and other skin diseases), Cholera, Dengue, Ebola, and Filariasis. We call these the ABCDEF of neglected tropical diseases. We added Buruli ulcer to the top five in order to make the mnemonic work.

Here is an excerpt from our Field Guide for Remote Medicine which will be officially launched during the Special Operations Medical Association conference in May. Click on the photo to the right to see the tropical medicine section of our Field Guide to Remote and Austere Medicine.

Special thanks to Jason Jarvis, 18D, who created the tropical medicine section of our field guide and smartphone application.