DISEASE IN WAR

Shannon News, 10 September 1926, Page 3

DISEASE IN WAR

MORE FATAI J "mAN TT^ LIjF,rS TO-DAY'S IMMUNITY.

One of the last duties of the late as director-general of the Ar SaZtion. The Impose of PJi mumty from disease when considered Sthe light of previous campaign. in which we have been engaged. "To the soldier, the preservation of health in peace and war » rfj« mount importance. Enaph asking this point, the manual states that a arge proportion of the diseases of, armies is preventable, and a» a rule nXy more men are lost through disease than through enemy ac ion Hi the Walcheren expedition m 1809 the deaths from disease were 347 per 1000 of strength, and the number of men who were non-effective through sickness, practically at the same time may be 'estimated as the whole forceDuring the Peninsular War three times as many men were lost by sickne« as by wounds, and *ove ib*ntwice the strength of the whole: arm> passed through the hospitals durin* that war on account- of ***?**• There are also instances ot militan expeditions being abandoned on account of disease in the camps ol concetration. Africa in the campaign of South Africa 69 men per 1000 of the strength died frl: disLe, and 746 per 1000 were at one time or another non-effective from sickness. For enteric fever alone there were 59,750 admissions S thehospital, and 8227 deaths among all ranks. The army medical authorities state that if this heavy incidence had occured n * ranee the total number of admissions during the war from typhoid and peraty nhoid fevers would have reached a SS I .' H...0C. with "••M'SSJ whereas there were only 7807 casis, with 260 deaths.