63 14 15 16 17 18 The GreatWar responsible for the general health of the soldiers. Preventative medicine was practiced through constant inspections of the soldiers. The rats and lice carried diseases and there were continually circulating illnesses and flus, although worse in the winter than summer. Doctors treated these illnesses without much success, although the study of some diseases provided clarity for how lice contributed to ailments, rashes, and “trench fever,” (new type of bacteria, Rickettsia), and better hygiene was enforced to reduce losses. The medical officers also engaged in a battle with trench foot. This grim wound occurred from soldiers standing in the mud and slush for days on end during the winter months, leading to a type of frostbite. In severe cases, the toes began to rot and amputation was the only means to save a victim. With an epidemic of cases over the winter of 1915-16, the high command ordered the medical doctors to find a solution. They did, by monitoring the men’s feet and ordering the smearing of whale oil over exposed skin. It was unpleasant work, but it much reduced these wounds. Doctors were responsible for assisting regimental officers in enforcing good hygiene discipline in the trenches, especially in supervising the overflowing latrines that could become vectors for disease. This was unglamorous work, but essential in keeping diseases from breaking out, especially the great killer of armies, typhoid, which had destroyed Napoleon’s invading army into Russia in 1812 and decimated the British during the Crimean War. Through diligent monitoring and then the isolation of afflicted soldiers, there were only 42 officers and 380 other ranks who contracted typhoid during the course of the war, with only 16 related deaths.4 Throughout the war, the CAMC continued to periodically apply mandatory vaccinations, which further countered potential losses. Modern military forces now The Medical Officer of the 12th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, conducts a foot inspection in a support trench near Roclincourt on 9 January 1918. (Thomas Keith Aitken (Second Lieutenant), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
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