Research reveals Imperial Japanese Army tested malaria on hospitalized soldiers in 1940
A study shows the Imperial Japanese Army exposed mentally ill soldiers to malaria-carrying mosquitoes during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Seiya Matsuno of Meiji Gakuin University's International Peace Research Institute confirmed a paper documenting Imperial Japanese Army experiments on its own troops in 1940. At an army medical school hospital in Chiba Prefecture, doctors introduced malaria-infected mosquitoes to ten soldiers hospitalized for mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, to investigate how the disease might spread within Japan. Supervision was provided by Shiro Ishii, who later led the notorious Unit 731 in China.
Five of the subjects showed severe fever, body aches and loss of appetite after an incubation period, after which they were treated with medication. The research aimed to prevent malaria outbreaks among returning soldiers, reflecting a broader attitude that treated those deemed unfit for combat as expendable test subjects.
Why it matters
It exposes a little-known episode of wartime human experimentation by Japan's army on its own soldiers.
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