5.1.3
Disease in the Trenches
Disease in the Trenches
Disease in the Trenches
The trenches were often mudbaths. Living in these conditions can spread disease, but soldiers also had to deal with shell attacks, gunshot wounds, gas attacks, and the emotional trauma of watching their comrades die.
Illness
Illness
- Soldiers lived in cold and mud for up to 4 years. They were exposed to fungus, bacteria, and viruses spread quickly.
- Trench foot was discovered by Napoleon's army in 1812. It happens if your feet are too wet and cold for too long. Lots of soldiers had their feet amputated because of trench foot.
- Supply lines were often broken, meaning it was hard to get clean drinking water. In battle, you may have to go to the bathroom in trenches. Unclean drinking water and living amongst faeces and urine spread disease.
Gas attacks
Gas attacks
- Tear gas (also called lachrimatory gas), mustard gas, phosgene and chlorine gas were all gases used in World War One. They would inflame the throat and lungs when they were breathed in and Mustard gas and Chlorine gas could kill soldiers.
- The Geneva Protocol of 1925 outlawed gas attacks in wars.
- 90,000 people died in World War 1 from gas attacks (mostly Russian because lots of Russian soldiers weren't given gas masks).
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Emotional trauma
Emotional trauma
- Shell shock is a psychological illness caused by having to sit through constant artillery bombardment. This often caused soldiers to break down psychologically.
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is another illness that can be caused by exposure to wars.
Infection and infected wounds
Infection and infected wounds
- Wounds were usually gunshot wounds or from the shrapnel (metal fragments after an explosion). Shells were filled with bullets and ball bearings which would explode outwards when a shell exploded.
- Bullets and shrapnel could cut deeply into soldiers' flesh.
- This exposed soldiers' insides to the bacteria, urine, and feces in the trenches.
- Wounds often got infected because they couldn't be cleaned quickly. This often caused sepsis, which is the fatal condition, which was common in medieval surgery.
Preventing infections
Preventing infections
- As Joseph Lister had suggested, wounds were washed using anti-septics. However, often this would be too late if a soldier could not be evacuated quickly. Carbolic acid would be used as an anti-septic in World War One.
- If a soldier had a badly infected wound, amputation (cutting of that limb) could help to save that soldiers' life but would cripple them forever.
Animals
Animals
- Infections and illness in the trenches could be spread by human contact, but also by animals like rats and fleas. They spread things like typhus among soldiers.
Developments in Surgery and Medicine During the War
Developments in Surgery and Medicine During the War
Doctors continued to develop new techniques throughout the war that gradually improved the way injuries and infections were dealt with.
X-rays
X-rays
- X-rays helped improve the treatment of bone fractures.
- War hospitals used X-ray machines to locate broken bones, bullets and shards of metal in patients.
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The Thomas splint
The Thomas splint
- The Thomas splint, designed by Hugh Owen Thomas, saved thousands of mens' lives during World War 1. The splint fixed a broken femur (thigh) in place whilst the person was being moved. This helped to reduce blood loss.
- The Thomas splint reduced the number of fatalities caused by femur fractures in the trenches from 80% to 20%.
Syringe-cannula blood transfusions
Syringe-cannula blood transfusions
- At the start of the war, blood was directly transfused from one person to another. This process was slow and often unsuccessful.
- The syringe-cannula technique improved success rates. This involved taking blood from a donor using a needle and syringe before quickly transfusing it. The difficulty was that blood could clot in the syringe.
- In 1917, at the Battle of Cambrai, blood was collected before the battle, ready to treat the injured rather than reactively after the battle when men were dying. This was the world's first 'blood bank'. The NHS runs a blood bank today.
Treating all wounds as infected
Treating all wounds as infected
- Treating all wounds as infected, cleaning the wound and only closing a wound if it wasn't infected was a practice developed by a Belgian, Dr. Depage during the war. This also saved thousands of soldiers' lives.
1Medicine in Medieval England
1.1Ideas about the Cause of Disease & Illness
1.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
2The Medical Renaissance in England
2.1Ideas about the Cause of Disease & Illness
2.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
3Medicine in 18th & 19th Century Britain
3.1Ideas about the Cause of Disease & Illness
3.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
4Medicine in Modern Britain
4.1Modern Understanding of Disease
4.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
5Treatment in WW1
6Themes in Medicine
7Some Extra Context (Not Compulsory for Exam)
7.1Medieval Medicine
Jump to other topics
1Medicine in Medieval England
1.1Ideas about the Cause of Disease & Illness
1.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
2The Medical Renaissance in England
2.1Ideas about the Cause of Disease & Illness
2.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
3Medicine in 18th & 19th Century Britain
3.1Ideas about the Cause of Disease & Illness
3.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
4Medicine in Modern Britain
4.1Modern Understanding of Disease
4.2Approaches to Prevention & Treatment
5Treatment in WW1
6Themes in Medicine
7Some Extra Context (Not Compulsory for Exam)
7.1Medieval Medicine
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