World war 1 was a horrible incident which impacted the lives of millions of people. A lot of people got disturbed in daily lives. They faced the worst days in World War 1. The number of people who died in world war 1 was really big. We cannot estimate the exact figures. Besides the high ratio or death, millions of people got injured. World war 1 changed their lives forever.
Besides, world war 1 changed everything in everyone’s life forever. People were infected with a different type of diseases. There was a shortage of food, no shelter and not any kind of medical facilities. In this article, we are going to talk about the top 10 diseases which infected the lives of people in world war 1.
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It was the worst disease which affected a significant number of soldiers. The feet of soldiers turned in red or blue color. This was due to the cold and wet weather conditions. Soldiers used to stand in wet weather conditions for a long time. They had no chance to move their bodies or change their clothes. As a result, the bacteria of the trench foot disease attacked them. Many of the soldiers died due to this disease.
Most of the soldiers were not treated for this disease. Their legs got numb and gangrenous. In those war conditions, the only solution was to change the clothes, and socks several times a day. They were also instructed to dry the feet to avoid the bacteria. But the war conditions did not allow them to do so. 2000 in the American army and about 75,000 men in the British Army infected by Trench foot infections.
Typhoid and typhus fever were the two deadliest diseases in world war 1. Most of the people died because of these diseases. Typhoid fever was due to bacterium Salmonella typhi name of a bacteria. People infected from this disease showed high body temperatures, sweating, and diarrhea.
There were different restrictions of the water and food for typhoid and typhus fever patients. This thing also weakened the patients. It did not allow them to intake sufficient food. Typhus fever was the virus transmitted from one soldier to others. There were different causes of this fever. The most prominent reasons were the bad hygiene conditions in most of the people. Different countries reported the different number of patients of fever. For example, Russia reported 82,000 different cases of infection in each year of world war 1.
Trench fever also called Quintan Fever in world war 1. There were almost 1 million soldiers who infected due to this ailment. This fever was due to a bacterium called Bartonella Quintana. It was spread across different countries of the world. There were a few most prominent symptoms of this disease. These symptoms included continuous fever attacks for short duration, and high body temperatures. The symptoms also included cough, muscle aches, sores on the skin and headaches.
This disease was treatable. But the severe conditions of world war 1 did not allow medical facilities to reach the patients. A lot of patients died due to Trench fever. Different soldiers left the battlefield due to serious pain. The minimum time duration was three months for leave when any soldier was diagnosed with it.
The number of malaria-infected people was much more than other diseases. It spread rapidly, and thousands of people were infected from Malaria. The ratio of ages of the malaria infected people was between 18 and 48. The average of 80,000 people died monthly due to this infection during world war 1.
Several countries including France and Britain had about 20 million malaria-infected people. There were not enough medicines for the treatment of this disease. It caused the death of several soldiers and civilians. A lot of people migrated from one place to others to avoid this disease.
Influenza changed the lives of thousands of people during world war one. It was also known as “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe.” It caused a lot of deaths which was more than the deaths due to world war 1. The average age range was between 20 years to 40 years who were affected by Influenza.
There were various symptoms for this disease. Some of the signs were the loss of appetite, blood poisoning, headaches, sore throats, and skin aches. People were infected by this disease in three different stages. Different civilians and army soldiers felt major difficulties. There was no cure for this disease to control the ratio of deaths. The health department of different countries only distributed gauze masks. The distribution of the masks was to control the harmful effects of Influenza.
We can say that Diabetes was the most dangerous and critical disease. People were its victim in world war 1. This was the time almost twenty years before when the insulin was discovered for the first time. At that time, the only solution was a strict diet. People had to control their diet habits which was very difficult in the war conditions.
Only a few things were allowed to intake at specific intervals of time. People were anxious about this disease. They tried their best to control it. However, it was the major disease which caused thousands of deaths all across the world.
Sexually transmitted diseases were the biggest issue during world war 1. There were different situations and reasons for such complaints. The different sexually transmitted infections especially venereal diseases transferred rapidly. It was carried to the unaffected populous in almost every region of the world during the world war. Different countries adopted different ways to control these diseases. Most of the soldiers were medically examined to figure out the infected ones during the war.
The wives of the soldiers were responsible for most cases of the venereal diseases. Those women had a relationship with different other soldiers. As a result, this disease was transmitted between different bodies. The cure for sexually transmitted diseases was too much expenses and time-consuming. However, different strict medical policies were there to control the increasing rate of such diseases.
There were different heart diseases during world war 1. The heart diseases of that time were different. There was no certain cure for heart diseases. A lot of people died due to instant heart disease and heart attack. Severe heart attack used to damage four major valves in the heart. As a result, all of them died instantly.
Different soldiers and civilians become heart patients because of war situations. The soldiers who had heart issues were freed from army services. There were special diets for heart patients. Those diets helped to control the heart attacks and the ratio of deaths.
Shell shock was the worst diseases during the world war 1. This disease was due to the worst situation and environment. Nobody was sure for life. According to studies, it was only British Army who reported 80,000 shell shock cases. There were a few cases of shell shock at the beginning of the war. However, the number of patients of this disease was in a million at the end of the world war 1.
Shell shock as a general term used to refer a post-traumatic stress patient. There were different symptoms of this kind of stressed patients. Those symptoms were constant fear, lack of sleep, and poor diet. The symptoms also included the inability to walk, and different kind of panic attacks. This was the worst disorder during world war 1. None of the doctors was able to predict its exact causes and treatment during the war. However, different patients were given individual speeches and behavior therapies.
Tuberculosis ruined the lives of hundreds of civilians and soldiers. There were a lot of victims of this disease during world war 1. The bacteria named "Mycobacterium tuberculosis" was responsible for this ailment. This ailment affected the human lungs at the most stages. However other body parts of the human were also affected by Tuberculosis bacteria. There were two different stages of this disease. The only way to diagnose the Tuberculosis was chest x-rays.
Medical officers tried their best to diagnose it in its first stage. It was because the second stage of this disease was more dangerous and incurable. Its symptoms were chills, bloody sputum, a cough, night sweats, weight loss, high body temperatures, and fatigue. In the United States, ratio of deaths because of tuberculosis was 148 for every 100,000 people. Some other countries also disturbed due to the higher death rate. The countries were Hungary Norway, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, England, Belgium, and Germany. Japan, Philippines, Bavaria, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and Italy were also affected from Tuberculosis.
Tags: world war 1 disease, ww1 diseases, venereal disease world war 1, disease in the trenches in world war 1
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