Courtesy Photo | WRAIR-AFRIMS sample collection team (left to right – Staff Sgt. Matthew Pascual,...... read more read more
The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research – Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (WRAIR-AFRIMS) performed comprehensive infectious disease surveillance throughout the Cobra Gold 2025 training grounds to advance force health protection, enhance interoperability, and strengthen the U.S. and Royal Thai Armed Forces partnership.
Cobra Gold, renowned as the largest and longest running military exercise in the Indo-Pacific, commenced its 44th iteration on February 25, 2025. WRAIR-AFRIMS’ extensive research efforts began a month earlier and continued throughout CG25, providing enhanced medical readiness for the nearly 8,200 service members, 3,200 of which were U.S. personnel, and fostering multilateral cooperative engagements and partnership building among the 30 participating nations.
"The samples we collected during CG25 are critical to protecting force health,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew Pascual. “This work not only supports readiness in real-world operations but also strengthens our ability to detect and respond to emerging health threats in dynamic environments."
Environmental and infectious disease scientists collected and tested samples from surgical equipment exposed to the elements, water and soil at the encampments, medical wastewater, and nasal swabs from symptomatic service members. Entomologists collected and screened mosquitoes, ticks, rodents, and ectoparasites for vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika, and Rickettsia.
Some of the pathogens detected include leptospirosis in soil samples at two camps, scrub typhus in chiggers, and Rickettsia and Erlichia in several species of ticks—demonstrating that screening for infectious disease threats in the operational environment is essential in keeping the warfighter DNBI averse and protected from endemic diseases.
“The success of the WRAIR-AFRIMS effort during Cobra Gold was made possible by the invaluable support of the Royal Thai Army. [It is] through these collaborations that our nations strengthen military partnerships, advance medical readiness, and fortify global health security,” stated Lt. Col. Daniel Boudreaux.
Although the training exercise has ended, WRAIR-AFRIMS continues to analyze the data collected from CG25 to inform force health protection decisions as it prepares for additional infectious disease surveillance efforts in support of USINDOPACOM’s upcoming Hanuman Guardian 2025, Balikatan 2025 and Cobra Gold 2026.
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2025 15:14 |
| Story ID: | 495041 |
| Location: | TH |
| Web Views: | 236 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, WRAIR-AFRIMS conducts force health protection research for Cobra Gold 2025, by Ramiro Chavez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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