Disease

CIVIL WAR DISEASE __By You__ toc Main Cause for Disease = =  --- At the time of the United States Civil War, American medical knowledge was rudimentary  at best. While --- European doctors such as Ignaz Semmelweis and Joseph Lister led the beginnings of a medical revolution --- by pioneering the [|germ theory of disease], American scientists had yet to discover the connection --- between sanitation and health. This medical ignorance translated into poor living conditions within both --- the Union and Confederate army camps. Latrines were placed by water supplies and infectious diseases --- such as dysentery and typhoid fever thrived as a result of the contamination. Crowded living grounds only --- galvanized the spread and outbreak of such ailments. As no known cures were available for the majority --- of the illnesses, and antiseptics were unavailable, disease continued to sweep both sides of the nation ---  — and rapidly so. It was estimated that by the end of 1861, roughly one third of all troops were suffering --- from sickness. By the war's end in 1865, disease had killed over twice as many soldiers as gunshot wounds --- from battle. The lack of knowledge regarding the relationship between hygiene and sickness was the --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">main cause for the many wartime diseases.

=**<span style="color: #3b3681; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Risk Factors **=

<span style="color: #1c39d9; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;"> Culture and Age
--- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Several factors besides the lack of antiseptics influenced a person's likeliness to incur a disease. Those <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">who --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">grew up in the country, and were not exposed to common childhood ailments like measles, were more --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">vulnerable to - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">illnesses than  <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> urban dwellers. Immigrants and Native Americans were also unexposed to many --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">sicknesses, and frequently fell victim to smallpox outbreaks and alcoholism. African-American slaves, who --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">were worked to exhaustion and lived in especially cramped, dirty conditions, contracted diseases easily as well. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Among all cultures, seniors and children were the most susceptible to developing - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">infectious illnesses. - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Diseases -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> affecting the young and the old typically led to fatality during the Civil War. = =



<span style="color: #1c39d9; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;"> Within Camps
--- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Conditions within army camps beyond the general uncleanliness also increased the risk of disease. The lack of fresh fruit and --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">meat caused malnourishment for many soldiers, weakening the body's resistance for "opportunistic" afflictions like pneumonia to --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">strike. Troops were placed in a dangerous predicament <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">— though nutrition was paramount to survival, food <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> was commonly --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">contaminated and posed the threat of fatality. During the winter, the absence of proper shelter combined with harsh conditions --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">led to frostbite, and likewise put soldiers at a higher risk. On average, these factors caused each soldier to endure at least two --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">rounds of illness during wartime. <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Given the living conditions, it was almost impossible for one to stay healthy.

DISEASE

DISEASE =<span style="color: #3b3681; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">Common Civil War Diseases = --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">There were various infectious diseases which afflicted soldiers during the Civil War. Many were food and water borne, --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">while others were acquired by insects or spread through the air. Among all, dysentery was the worst. Resulting from --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">contaminated food and water supplies, it plagued nearly two million soldiers alone during the course of the war. Typhoid --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">fever, another food borne ailment which caused almost seventy thousand deaths, led to symptoms of diarrhea, chills, and --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">depression. Although current cases can be cured within a week using antibiotics, the prognosis for typhoid during the nineteenth --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">century was fatal for one third of those afflicted. Tuberculosis (TB), an air airborne disease causing warty growths to develop --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">in and eventually destroy the lungs, accounted for fourteen - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">thousand deaths. Even today treatment is arduous, lasting several months --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">and involving many antibiotics. As a result, at the time of the war, soldiers who suffered from TB quickly fell prey to lung failure. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Another respiratory condition that threatened troops was pneumonia, an ailment causing - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">severe lung inflammation. Killing one -- --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">in six of those affected, pneumonia led to forty thousand deaths and was known as an "opportunistic" illness, affecting men --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">who were already weak. The primary insect borne disease during the war was Malaria, which was spread by mosquitoes. It was the only --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">major ailment for which cures were available, and therefore killed just one percent of those afflicted. Cases of untreated measles during --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">the war took the lives of over ten thousand soldiers, and the lax military requirements for [|smallpox] vaccinations resulted in seven --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">thousand deaths. Together, disease caused around four hundred thousand wartime fatalities. See the Visual Component below for a graphic --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">representation of Civil War Disease statistics. = = = = =**<span style="color: #3b3681; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Dysentery **= --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Dysentery was the most rampant wartime killer, causing nearly one hundred thousand deaths and affecting --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">over ninety-nine percent of all troops by 1865. Usually resulting from a bacterial infection or an infestation of --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">parasitic worms within the intestines, dysentery yields the symptoms of fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">While most cases today can pass within a week through the replenishment of fluids and rest, living conditions --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">during the Civil War made it difficult for troops to overcome the illness. Constant exhaustion and a contaminated --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">water supply meant that soldiers were forced to endure the symptoms for weeks on end — until they were --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">killed by the diarrhea. Cases of dysentery caused by a protozoan infection were less common, though more --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">serious. In such instances, infectious amoebas could travel to the brain and other vital organs, causing serious harm --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">and killing a soldier before other symptoms could touch them. Dysentery is an example of a fatal wartime disease --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">that today can be cured easily. Though horrific, the effects of dysentery during the war led to significant revelations --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">surrounding the influence of hygiene on health. DISEASE DISEASE DISEASE

=<span style="color: #3b3681; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Malaria = --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Malaria was a less severe condition than dysentery, taking thirty thousand lives during the Civil War. Caused by a parasite --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">transferred from human to human by the bite of an infected mosquito, Malaria leads to symptoms of fever, chills, and --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">coughing. [|Anemia] is also caused as the infectious parasites mature in the liver and proceed to infect healthy red blood cells. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Due to the South's warm climate and mosquito population, malaria was especially prevalent within Confederate Army camps. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Unlike the other wartime diseases, Malaria only occasionally resulted in death and possessed a fatality rate of roughly one percent. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Compared to the three million soldiers afflicted during the war, malaria's death toll was, in fact, not very high. This was due --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">to the vast supply of a substance called quinine, which was successful in curing and preventing the disease. Other antimalarial --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">medications were - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">available, though were less commonly used. Malaria's significance stems from its position as the sole wartime sickness --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">that was effectively treated. --- = Impact = --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The ghastly effects left by disease on the Civil War ignited a public and medical awareness of contagion. America's --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">understanding of germs and their effect on health was increased, and doctors, as well as regular citizens, began to  --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">take practices of sterility seriously. New medical techniques also developed as a result of the war. American doctors --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">began experimenting with curative plants and [|homeopathic] treatments for diseases <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">— which stimulate the body's --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">capability to heal through the use of diluted medicinal preparations. In addition to the medical advancements sparked by --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">the Civil War, progression was also made in the nursing field. Through the efforts of trailblazing women working with the --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">United States Sanity Commission to combat wartime illness, nursing as a profession gained nationwide respect. --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">During the next century, women would continue to play a role in raising awareness of disease. The illnesses --- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">which plagued American citizens during the Civil War, though costly, set off advancements in medicine and health care.

=** Video on Wartime Disease **= = = <span style="color: #a43d3d; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">The following video discusses the impact of disease on the war. See Civil War Surgery for further reference.

media type="custom" key="6027929" align="center"

= = =** Civil War Disease Visual Component **=



=**<span style="color: #3b3681; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Bibliography **=

**__Information__**
<span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> __Civil War Diseases__. 2009. Civil War Academy. 27 Apr. 2010. <[|www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-diseases.html] >.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> "Civil War Medicine." <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 2010. ** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">American History. ABC-CLIO. Online. 29 Apr. 2010. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><[]>

<span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Gervase, Samantha. "Disease and Epidemic During the Civil War." Encyclopedia of American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to 1869, vol. 5. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2003. American History. Facts on File, Inc. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Online. 27 Apr. 2010. < [] >.

<span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Kohn, George. "Civil War Epidemics." Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, Third Edition. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2008. American History. Facts on File, Inc. Online. Apr. 28 2010. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[] >.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Perkins, Marlitta. __Civil War Diseases__. Lawrence Country Military Records. 28 Apr. 2010. < <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kylawren/LCM_CW_Diseases.htm]>.

<span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> __Salmonella Infections__, __Tuberculosis__, __Pneumonia__, __Complementary and Alternative Medicine__. 2010. US National Library of Medicine. 28 Apr. 2010. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><[|www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/salmonellainfections.html] >. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><[|www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tuberculosis.html] >. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><[|www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pneumonia.html] >. -- <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><[]>.

<span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Stowe, Steven. "Health and Disease." __Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century__. Volume 2. 2001: 17-18.

<span style="color: #3b3681; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">**__Images__**
<span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In Order of Appearance <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> 1) Creative Commons- Flickr, Search Query: [|Joseph Lister] <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> 2) Creative Commons- Google Images, Search Query: [|Civil War Camps] <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> 3) Creative Commons - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Google Images, Search Query: [|Measles] <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> 4) Creative Commons - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Google Images, Search Query: [|Dysentery Bacteria]. <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> 5) Creative Commons - <span style="color: #922f52; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Google Images, Search Query: [|Malaria Mosquito]

**__Multimedia__**
//Civil War Medicine//. Vimeo, 2008. Web. 3 May 2010. <[] >.