mumu

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nope, not in OED.

1921  Philip H. Manson-Bahr, ed.  _Manson's Tropical Diseases_  (ed. 7)
(N.Y.: William Wood & Co.) In Fiji a form of filarial fever is common in
heavily infested districts without any obvious lymphangitis.... Among
Fijians it is known as "wanganga" and in Samoa as "mumu fever."

1944 _Time_ (Aug. 28) [
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,885620,00.html] (not
verified on paper):  Among the horrors of war in the South Pacific is
filariasis (rhymes with diocese), a mosquito-borne, hitherto incurable
disease. It sometimes develops into elephantiasis, particularly of the
scrotum. The number of military cases runs into the hundreds, mostly
jungle-fighting marines who have been evacuated to U.S. hospitals. The Navy
has described filariasis as the "hardest single thing" facing its doctors.
But last week the Journal of the American Medical Association announced a
drug which attacks the parasites causing the disease. Called mumu by
Samoans, filariasis develops from the worm Wuchereria bancrofti, carried by
certain species of mosquitoes.

1952 Leon Uris _Battle Cry_ (rpt. N.Y.: Bantam) 222: The Eighth Marines,
sick with mumu from Samoa, had been forced to retreat, Seymour told us.

1999 Samuel E. Stavisky _Marine Combat Correspondent_ (N.Y.: Ivy Books)  114
[GB: not verified on paper]:
Diarrhea, dengue, and dysentery, fungus and coral infections, malaria and
mumu felled even the hardiest of the Raiders.

JL


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