In the old days, with decaying fruits and vegetables, insects, especially mosquitoes, insufficient fresh milk for the babies, and the prevalence of cholera, smallpox, malaria, leprosy, dysentery, and tropical ulcers and eruptions, there was a serious health question .
12.
The new M-1942 canvas-and-rubber Jungle boots with Saran mesh insoles were tested by experimental Army units in jungle exercises in Panama, Venezuela, and other countries, where they were found to increase the flow of dry outside air to the insole and base of the foot, reducing blisters and tropical ulcers.
13.
However it was the knowledge as to the treatment of malaria and other tropical diseases that Sayers gained from setting up hospitals in the Solomons that he later applied during his service as a physician with the New Zealand General Hospital that was part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during World War II . Sayers also identified that an effective treatment of tropical ulcers was the application of non-adherent dressings; he used the recently developed sticking plaster tape.
14.
These insoles were tested by experimental Army units in jungle exercises in Panama, Venezuela, and other countries, where they were found to increase the flow of dry outside air to the insole and base of the foot, reducing blisters and tropical ulcers . and Ralph Wiley of The Dow Chemical Co . completed the final work needed for introduction of Saran ( polyvinylidene chloride ), which had been invented in 1939 . Saran monofilaments were also extruded for the first time.
