Health and Medical Probelms

• Soldiers encountered weapons and wounds during the first world war
• The issue of disease and illness in the trenches was explored
• Soldiers' health in the trenches was sometimes more threatened by conditions than by the enemy
• Unhealthy conditions in the trenches

  • Muddy and filthy, Rat-infested, Wet or flooded, Lacking hygienic toilet facilities, Under enemy fire
• Trench foot was a major health problem in the trenches
• Cause of trench foot

  Standing in filthy cold water
• Trench warfare was an unhealthy business
• Conditions in the trenches could cause unpleasant effects on soldiers' feet
• Trench foot could lead to gangrene, amputation, and blood poisoning
• Up to a sixth of the army could be affected by trench foot in cold weather
• Effects of trench foot

  Feet swell, Flesh dies, Stink, Gangrene, Amputation, Blood poisoning
• Harry Roberts, a British soldier, described the effects of trench foot during the first World War
• Trench fever was a little-known phenomenon during World War One
• Trench fever was also known as pyrexia of Unknown Origin (PUO)
• Symptoms of trench fever

  • Back pain, Joint pain, Muscle aches, Eye pain, Headaches, Fever, Rash
• Trench fever was caused by infestations of lice in the trenches
• Rats also roamed the trenches, feeding on corpses
• Measures were taken to deal with lice infestations in the trenches
• The term "feeling lousy" originated from the time of the first world war when people had trench fever
• Fever was little understood at the time and lice were hard to get rid of
• Dealing with lice problem in the trenches

  1. Soldiers crushed lice between fingernails and removed their eggs from the seams of their uniforms with fingernails or by running a candle up and down the seams

  2. Fumigation of clothes with insecticide chemicals passed through in steam or smoke

  3. High temperature laundry and steaming

  4. Disinfecting clothes and bedding

  5. Washing in paraffin

  6. Setting up mobile showers to improve personal hygiene

  7. Issuing replacement uniforms when infestation was severe
• Lice were an annoyance and caused trench fever, taking men out of the front lines
• Nyd n was known as post-traumatic stress disorder or shell shock
• Nyd n means not yet diagnosed nervous, a euphemism for shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder
• Shell shock victims were often classed as nyd n mild, indicating a mild case likely to recover soon
• Shell shock treatment included rest, good food, talks from doctors, keeping in contact with their unit, and in severe cases, physical or electroshock therapy
• The Army tried to address the natural reactions of sick men who couldn't rejoin their units
• More extreme physical and electroshock therapy might be used in rare cases
• Physical manipulation therapy

  Manipulating the legs physically to show movement, addressing physical symptoms of trauma
• Such therapies tended to address physical symptoms of trauma and not the underlying causes
• Treatments like physical manipulation therapy might subside physical symptoms but not the underlying trauma
• Treatments in the past might seem heartless and brutal by modern standards but were the best available at the time
• Infections in soldiers during World War One were caused by germs carried into wounds by bullets and filthy clothing
• Conditions in World War One trenches led to poor health, infections, lice infestation, and mental strain
• Gas gangrene is a deadly consequence of infection causing flesh to die and rot, sometimes leading to amputation
• Gas gangrene starts with a sweet smell and progresses to red, yellow, black, and green as the skin dies
• Gas gangrene causes gas bubbles under the skin and on the surface of the wound
• World War One posed challenges to health and well-being, including infections, lice infestation, and mental strain
• PUO (pyrexia of Unknown Origin) was known as trench fever from lice bites
• Nervous nyd, also known as shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder, was a consequence of the mental strain of war