Health and Medical Problems in WWI

• Soldiers in the trenches during World War I faced many medical problems, not just from enemy fire but also from the unhealthy conditions in the trenches
• Unhealthy conditions in the trenches


  • Muddy and filthy
  • Rat-infested
  • Wet or flooded
  • Lacking toilet facilities
• Trench foot


  Condition caused by standing in filthy cold water, leading to restricted blood flow and death of flesh, potentially requiring amputation
• Effects of trench foot


  • Feet swelling to 2-3 times normal size
  • Feet going completely numb
  • Rotting flesh
  • Gangrene
  • Blood poisoning
• Up to a sixth of the army could be affected by trench foot in cold weather
• Trench fever


  Also known as pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO), caused by lice infestations, with symptoms including back pain, joint pain, muscle aches, eye pain, headaches, fever, and rash
• Dealing with lice in the trenches


  1. Crushing lice between fingernails

  2. Removing lice eggs from uniform seams

  3. Fumigation with insecticide chemicals

  4. High temperature laundry and steaming

  5. Disinfecting clothes and bedding

  6. Washing in paraffin

  7. Issuing replacement uniforms
• Shell shock


  Also known as not yet diagnosed nervous (NYDN), a form of post-traumatic stress disorder with symptoms including paralysis, shaking, and involuntary movements
• Treatment for shell shock


  1. Rest

  2. Good food

  3. Talks from doctors and others to calm them down

  4. Keeping in contact with their unit

  5. Physical and electro-shock therapy (rare)
• Over 80,000 recorded cases of NYDN, but the real figure would have been much higher
• Infection from wounds


  Bullets carried dirt and fragments of filthy clothing into wounds, allowing germs to enter the body
• Centuries of manuring by farmers had made the ground in World War I extremely full of dangerous germs
• Gas gangrene


  Deadly infection causing flesh to die and rot, with a sweet smell, redness, yellowing, and eventually blackening and greening of the skin, requiring amputation as the only treatment
• World War I presented new challenges to health and well-being, in addition to the dangers of bullets and bombs