Medicine on the western front

• Trench Fever


  A highly contagious and debilitating disease caused by the bacterium Bartonella quintana, prevalent among soldiers during World War I.
• Quinine Treatment


  A medication used to treat Trench Fever, commonly available during World War I.
• Trench Fever Symptoms


  Fever, chills, headache, and exhaustion, among others.
• Battle of Ypres


  A series of battles fought from 1914 to 1918 during World War I, near the city of Ypres in western Belgium.
• The first recorded use of anaesthesia was by Hippocrates, who used opium to relieve pain.
• Hippocrates believed that disease was caused by imbalances within the body, which could be corrected with dietary changes and herbs
• In ancient Egypt, surgeons performed trepanation (drilling holes into the skull) as a treatment for various conditions such as epilepsy or mental illnesses.
• first battle of Ypres

  1914
• Second battle of Ypres

  1915
• Third battle of Ypres

  1917
• Battle of Arras

  1917 - underground hospitals used
• Battle of the Somme

  July - November 1917 , 60000 casualties and 20000 dead
• Battle of Cambrai

  1917
• Impact of terrain on helping the wounded

  Difficult to move around, communication was difficult, collecting wounded from No Man’s Land was dangerous. Stretcher bearers found it difficult to move around corners and transport of the wounded was difficult because of this.
• Evacuation route

  Survival depended on speed of treatment. Care improved as war progressed. 1914 – 0 motor ambulances but by 1915, it was 250. Ambulance trains were introduced, as well as, ambulance barges used along River Somme
• Stretcher bearers

  Collect wounded, 16 in each battalion + 4 for each stretcher
• Regimental Aid post

  Always close to the front line and staffed by a Medical officer selected those who were lightly wounded/needed more attention.
• Field ambulance + dressing station

  Emergency treatment for wounded.
• Casualty Clearing station

  Large, well equipped station, 10 miles from trenches.
• Base Hospital

  X-ray, operating theatre and areas to deal with gas poisoning.
• Arras underground hospitals

  Running water, 700 beds and operating theatre
• Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC)

  Involved medical officers and learnt about wounds never seen before.
• First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) - trained to provide first aid to soldiers
• Triage

  A system of splitting the wounded into groups according to who needed the most urgent attention.
• Trench fever - caused by body lice and included flu-like symptoms including high temperature
• Trench Fever - Prevention - Clothes disinfected and delousing stations were set up. Affected 0.5 million
• Trench foot - caused by soldiers standing in muddy, waterlogged ground

  prevention: keeping feet dry and rubbing whale oil on feet

  affected 20000 people in 1914-15
• Shell shock - psychological disorder caused by trauma of war. Soldiers would experience anxiety, depression and nightmares. Treated with rest and relaxation. Affected 80% of troops
• Machine guns - 500 per minute - pierced organs and fracture bones
• chlorine gas - Led to death by suffocation, gas masks given to all British soldiers.

  phosgene gas - Faster acting than Chlorine but with similar effects. Could kill within 2 days

  mustard gas - Odourless gas, worked in 12 hours. Caused blisters, burn the skin easily
• Gangrene: When a body decomposes due to a loss of bloody supply
• The Thomas Splint: Stopped joints moving and increased survival rates from 20 to 82%. Reduced infection from compound fractures
• X-rays: Developed in 1895, X-rays used to diagnose issues before operations. But there were some problems: X-ray could not detect all problems, were fragile and overheat
• Mobile X-rays: 6 operated on the front line, used to locate shrapnel and bullet wounds. Transported around in a truck and enabled soldiers to be treated more quickly
• Blood Transfusions: Blood loss = major problem. Blood transfusions used at Base Hospitals by a syringe and tube to transfer blood from patient to donor. Extended to CCS from 1917
• Blood bank at Cambrai: Adding Sodium Citrate allowed blood to be stored for longer. Blood was stored in glass bottles at a blood bank and used to treat wounded soldiers
• Compound Fracture: Broken bones pierces the skin + increases risk of infection in wound
• Debridement: Cutting away of dead and infected tissue from around the wound
• Gas Gangrene: Infection that produced gas in gangrenous wounds
• Mobile X-ray unit: Portable X-ray unit that could be moved around the Western Front.