Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Diseases of WWI

Good Essays
869 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Diseases of WWI
All though many wars are known for deaths due to harsh fighting, World War I was known for many reasons for soldier’s deaths. It was very hard for soldier’s to get the type of medical care and technology that we have today, and difficult to be cured. In this case, during World War I diseases were very common and were spread thoroughly. Fighting in the WWI meant being high at risk of death. Soldiers were constantly doing life threatening duties. Deaths numbers were so intense that “after a year and a half of fighting, more than 53,000 Americans died from combat related injuries” (Kinder). If a soldier was not killed, it was very likely that they were at least severely injured or wounded. “It was nearly impossible to escape the war without some kind of injury or decline in health” (Kinder). Not only that, but it was 224,000 or more Americans that were wounded from fighting in the World War, not just temporarily, but majority in permanent injuries. The war left more than 200,000 soldiers disabled for the rest of their lives. Injuries have impacted not only the soldier’s lives, but the families as well, leaving their loved ones needing help at all times. Being crippled could mean being incapable of doing things physically, or even mentally. Wars such as this have also been known for leaving many emotionally unstable. Disease was a large portion during, and even after the war. “Infectious diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and measles killed 63,000 soldiers and more” (Kinder). The illnesses and infections would spread fluently through the trenches; due to how tightly the soldiers were set together. Men with serious illness would be incapacitated for several days or even weeks. Hoping for recovery, thousands more would stay in hospitals to cure and stay away from interactions. To start with, the trenches were outrageously dirty, packed with soldiers and the greatest cause for disease. Diseases that infected one, would instantly lead to infecting others, especially due to poor medical treatment. The hospital nurses would usually tell the soldiers there was nothing they could do to cure their infections, so they would spend weeks and months in the hospitals hoping time would cure them. A main cause for diseases was the rat infestations. There were millions of rats found in the trenches that would spread infection and contaminate food. They would scatter deep in the trenches, finding men to bite, allowing them to get an insect-borne disease. The rat’s sizes were so large that “they would eat a wounded man if he couldn’t defend himself” (Currie). They would steal the soldier’s food out of their pockets, and contaminate mostly anything they would touch. Lice was also a never ending problem, the eggs would remain hidden in clothing and seems (Duffy). There was absolutely no way for a soldier during this time to avoid lice, nor their eggs. Body lice would result in skin problems, or carried “typhoid fever” (Currie). Lice also were a cause for trench fever. Trench fever was “a painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fevers” (Duffy). This also resulted in extreme joint and muscle pain for the soldiers who were usually stuck down in the mucky trenches. The recovery for trench fever could take up to about 12 weeks, and needed to be hospitalized. Trench foot was a very large part of the World War I, which was a “fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary trench conditions” (Duffy). In the trenches men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot would turn into a serious condition. Trench foot was a particular problem in the early stages of the war, where it was very painful, especially during extreme weather conditions. Trench foot was a form of frostbite, and lack of exercise and use of wearing boots would make the condition even worse. Typically, the treatment for trench foot would be removal of the toes that were infected. The only other remedy for trench foot was for the soldiers to dry their feet and change their socks several times a day. Harsh weather would also cause a kidney disease, called nephritis. This disease was usually not deathly, unless the soldier was infected with any other harsh illness. Nephritis caused uncomforting pain, but would cure pretty fast. Puddles of mud, drastic conditions of trenches, and poor hygiene would lead to “dysentery, cholera, and other stomach disorders” (Currie). With all of these conditions in mind, there was not enough room for every ill, infected, or wounded soldier to spend their time curing in the hospitals. Most would be sent and kept in the front lines to try to survive. Furthermore, during the times of World War I there were very many harsh illnesses, diseases, and wounded soldiers. It was very uncommon for any soldier to have made it through the war without any type of infection spread to them. There was a significant amount of deaths, but there were many survivors during the WWI as well.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Death, disability, and love the triangle of heartache. More than 9 million combatants were killed during this Great War. The questions I ask myself are do the survivors really survive after war? Or are they so tarnished with war they cannot function with daily tasks. Do the soldiers go to war knowing they are not coming back? Are they proud of what they are doing? Is it a relief to come back sooner with a limbs missing? All of these questions you too may also be asking about this first global war and I will be answering these questions though the soldiers themselves with the poetry they wrote during their time in action from a book called World War One British Poets, Brooke, Owen, Sasson, Roseberg, and Others.…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early years of the Civil War it became clear that disease would be the greatest killer. Twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease then that were killed in combat. This was due to unsanitary and filthy conditions, untrained Medical personnel and poor medical examination of new soldier's. One fact from the Civil War was 315,000 soldiers died from illnesses that included: 44,558 from diarrhea/dysentery, 10,063 from malaria, 34,833 from typhoid, 958 from typhus and 436 from yellow fever.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a result of having no organized medical corps in the army, conditions at most of the hospitals were poor. More soldiers during this time died of complications other than battlefield wounds such as dysentery, small pox, and pneumonia. (Son of the South). Hospitals were overcrowded and nurses lacked adequate quality of food and water, clean clothing, sanitation equipment, and other medication supplies to properly provide care for the injured. Because of this, hospitals were breeding grounds for disease and death.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    history coursework

    • 3423 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The five sources that I have selected to help with my enquiry are photographs, an extract from a newspaper article and a soldier's diary. The reasons why I chose these five particular sources is because I believe that they are a wide variety of selections, dating back to many years, all ranging from the start of the war to the end of the war. However, one of my sources, the newspaper article, was published in 2008 so it is more of a recent source but still, very useful and effective.From my own knowledge I know the trenches were inhumane and were infected with diseases which led to 1.2 million men who were registered physically and/or mentally disabled.These sources are quite important because each source shows pictures and texts of what was like in the trenches and the difficulty of living in the trenches. I believe that the sources are useful as a historical; some more than others e.g.; a photograph is more reliable than a newspaper article. In my opinion one of the strengths of these sources are their reliability and the useful contexts and information that they include. One of the limitation were that they only included either a physical or mental view and did not include both perspectives and experiences.…

    • 3423 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Howard Zinn Chapter 14

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages

    ‘Ten million were to die on the battlefield; 20 million were to die of hunger and disease related to the war. And no one since that day has been able to show that the war brought any gain for humanity that would be worth one human life.” (Page 359) Many people died for their country. War often killed many people, and left the survivors traumatized by the experience. “The killing started very fast, and on a large scale. In August 1914, a volunteer for the British army had to be 5 feet 8 inches to enlist. By October, the requirement was lowered to 5 feet 5 inches. That month there were thirty thousand casualties, and then one could be 5 feet 3. In the first three months of war, almost the entire original British army was wiped out.” (Page 360) Stories about the bloody war were not mentioned in newspapers and articles in Britain. However, some people documented this event in history by writing books about it.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    By far, the deadliest thing that faced the Civil War soldier was disease and infection. For every soldier who died in battle, two died of disease (Cunningham 1958). Among the long list of terminal and fatal diseases that plagued the battlefield as well as the operating table and hospitals were dysentery (a severe form of diarrhea which was very common among the soldiers), measles, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, and "camp itch" which was caused by skin disease and insects. Malaria was usually brought on by camping in damp areas, where mosquitos were prone to. There were many factors that came into play which explained why disease spread so rapidly. Among the explanations were as follows: inadequate physicals before entering the Army, the fact many troops came from rural areas,…

    • 1798 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The troops had little food, lick grass for water, had to bear the sight of other’s deaths, as well as live under the thought that they could die at any moment. The people who lived through this of often scarred for life, mentally and physically and even being depressed.…

    • 615 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil War Medicine

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It was because the surgeons knew very little about diseases that two out of every three soldiers that died in the war died from disease. Most soldiers died from diseases such as measles, mumps, and whooping cough. There were also many deaths from the lack of cleanliness in the hospitals. In some cases they would reuse wound dressing and put some straw over used bedding and dirty floor. When the top layer got dirty they would put a new layer on.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life in the trenches, on the daily, was filled with horror, and death. Death was a constant companion to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against. In busy sectors the constant shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death, whether their victims were lounging in a trench or lying in a dugout (many men were buried as a consequence of large shell-bursts). Similarly, novices were cautioned against their natural inclination to peer over the parapet of the trench into no man's land. Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's bullet. It has been estimated that up to one third of allied casualties on the Western Front were actually sustained in the trenches. Aside from enemy injuries, disease wrought a heavy toll.…

    • 1342 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The diets of soldiers were malnourishing, which did nothing to help the immune systems of the worn down soldiers. The use of sterile dressings, antiseptic surgery, or even sanitation and hygiene was unheard of. A capable surgeon could perform an amputation in approximately ten minutes. The circumstances of these procedures were dangerous and unsanitary. The surgeons operated in coats stained with pus and blood while using bloody knives as scalpels and even fingers as probes. The lack of water, as well as time, meant there was no washing of the hands or instruments. The desperate times caused doctors to utilize houses, churches, schools, and even barns as surgery rooms.(Goellnitz.) Although doctors did everything they knew how to do, the medical practices just weren’t sufficient for the…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Trench conditions varied widely between different theatres of war, different sectors within a theatre, and with the time of year and weather. Trench life was however always one of considerable squalor, with so many men living in a very constrained space. Source 7 supports this by saying “troops fell prey to dysentery and trench fever as a result of filthy conditions and exposure”. However source 8 disagrees where it depicts how the troops where only in the trenches for a “short time”, furthermore source 9 continues to support source 8 by saying “casualties where low”.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While all this stuff has happened I was one of the first to get drafted into the war and many of my friends died and when I say many I mean a ton. The war was harsh and I was one of the guys to get a long range rifle and so I was saved from most of the kills because I was always one trench back from my fellow soldiers. The conditions were rough in the trenches like the food was served in miniscule amount and the health conditions were terrible. Sometimes they would shoot gas grenades over and poisonous gas would come over into the trench but we all had small gas masks to wear in the case. These were the fighting conditions I faced for 4 years.…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Medicine In The Civil War

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Even though injuries and casualties were expected, neither side was prepared to deal with them nor had much knowledge to treat them until later in the war. The poor preparation of the war was evident in the beginning when both armies struggled to efficiently tend to and transport their wounded, inadvertently sacrificing more lives to mere disorganization. (Dixon). At the beginning of the conflict, physicians had never treated a gunshot wound, and few were experienced in evaluating and treating the injuries of war. Although the physicians lacked training, the methods and procedures used were in many ways considered to be substandard. Uneducated physicians were not the…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil War Medicine Essay

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The medical side of things can be very controversial but my evidence and supports are the best because well it all just comes down to not knowing about medical science. There was simply not enough knowledge about diseases and not enough organizations to keep the soldiers alive. Out of pure disease and illness it doubled the amount of deaths, not including gunfire deaths. Beds and safe havens for soldiers to rest were disgusting, poorly cleaned and sanitized, and unorganized.equipment and knowledge of medicine, Doctors and Nurses are at a surplus and Medicine not only saves lives but it pays very…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gallipoli Campaign Essay

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Swarms of flies carried infection from rotting corpses to food being eaten by the sodiers. Disease was just as much a threat to the troops as the enemy they were fighting. The combination of poor nutrition, poor living conditions and lack of rest weakened the sodiers. By late July, hundreds of tired and poorly fed men were becoming sick each day, though many refused to be taken away from the war and wanted to stay at the trenches and fight. The sodiers had to live in poor condition and had to eat infected food, weakening the soldiers.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays