Photo By Staff Sgt. Bruno Bego | CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Navy Lt. Joseph W. Diclaro II, from Beckley, W.Va., a...... read more read more
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – Insects are the most diverse of all animal groups, with more species existing than any other genus in the world. In fact, there are so many insects that no one knows quite how to count them all, according to a report released by the Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America.
Some insects are responsible for transmitting diseases such as bluetongue disease, dengue fever, encephalitis, Lyme disease, Typhus, and Malaria – one of the most feared diseases of all times. These inflictions send nearly half a billion people to the hospital and kill between 1.5 to 2.7 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization.
To mitigate such situations and protect troops from contracting various diseases, the U.S. armed forces count on a group of medical entomologists whose sole jobs are to investigate insect-transmitted diseases that can jeopardize the health of troops deployed throughout the world.
The only one such expert in Regional Command Southwest is Lt. Joseph W. Diclaro II, from Beckley, W.Va., who holds a doctorate in medical entomology and serves with Public Health and Preventive Medicine Detachment, Alpha Surgical Company, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) aboard Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.
“Entomology is the study of insects that can cause disease,” Diclaro explained. “We basically look at how that insect gets that pathogen and how does it give it to us … it is mainly surveillance.
“We want to know where it is, how the insect is living and how it is reproducing. Basically we want to know how is that disease getting to that insect,” he added. “Anything that deals with an insect making [a person] sick, we want to investigate it and learn how to prevent it from happening again.”
Diclaro’s career didn’t begin in entomology. He first enlisted in 1989 as a hospital corpsman and held multiple billets in many units before he even thought about entomology.
“When I first came in I went to corps school and then I went to field medical service school,” he said. “I was assigned to a [medical battalion], which took me on my first deployment to Haiti in the early nineties.
“I worked as a respiratory therapist,” Diclaro explained. “But for most of my career I was an X-ray technician.”
As he continued with his career and “thanks to tuition assistance,” as he said, Diclaro also developed his medical skills by attending different educational institutions such as Northern Virginia Community College, Mountain State University, George Mason University and the University of Florida.
“My first degree was just an associate degree in general studies, my second was a bachelor’s in biology,” He added. “My third was a master’s on bio defense and my fourth was a Ph.D on medical entomology.”
While working on his master’s degree, Diclaro had one goal in mind, going to medical school to earn his doctorate in medicine.
“I was just really focused on just getting there, when I was working on my degree on bio-defense,” he explained. “But we had a lot of guest speakers coming in to talk to us, and they were mostly entomologists … they would talk about different research they were working on, and I started developing an interest in the subject.
“I didn’t know the military had medical entomologists,” He added.
In the military, entomology covers vector research and control. Medical entomologists are also responsible for providing solutions to protect service members from contracting diseases by providing uniforms treated with pesticides and medication.
“One of the statements that stuck out to me the most during one of the speeches was, in war, more casualties are created by insects than by the enemy itself,” he said. “That’s kind of a profound statement, because you are talking about something that is very small, and that thing is killing people by the thousands in some cases.
“What attracted me about this job is that I can help a large amount of people be healthy, rather than just helping one individual,” he said. “That was very appealing to me, plus I find it fascinating just the way the disease process works.”
Throughout his tour he has conducted countless occupational environmental health site assessments, and collected nearly 100,000 mosquitoes from different forward operating bases and combat outposts around the area of operation for further investigation, as well as provided medical information for troops deployed to the region.
“I did the greatest good for the greatest number of people,” he concluded. “Instead of just helping one person, I can help a city, I can help a country, I can help the military. I don’t think anything can compare to that feeling.”
| Date Taken: | 08.24.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2011 08:36 |
| Story ID: | 75971 |
| Location: | CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF |
| Web Views: | 393 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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