Trench Fever
Trench fever
is another illness which arose as a direct result of trench warfare conditions.
The term Trench fever conjures up maybe a psycological condition, a man who
developes some nervous disorder due to confinement to trenches. Trench fever
was a very real, potentially fatal illness, it was a type of Typhus
and it struck in epedemic proportions sapping the strength of a front line
unit. Yet after the war trench fever virtually disappeared.
Causes: trench fever was directly caused by the humble body louse that every man in the trenches seemed to be plagued with. Living on the louse was a bug ( midway between a virus and a bacterium in size) called Rickettsia quintana, which got into the victims blood stream when the affected louse bit it's victim. As virtually every man had lice the numbers of men with trench fever was potentially high, the condition was also infectious so was likely to claim many victims. Where did the louse get it from??, well, there is somelinks to rodents so it is possible that the louse got it from the rodent, Rickettsia didn't upset the louse, it was simply hitching a ride and having dinner, but inside the human blood stream it created havoc. Other possible contibutary factors are the position of the latrines, as a man who was infected would have infective number 2's for 60 days and if the rats and lice were not choosy about where they were re- infection could take place.
Symptoms:
After the victim was bitten, the incubation period could be as short as 5 days but as long as 21 days before symptoms were present. The symptoms would come on very quickly, the victim would develop back and headaches, the eyes would become conjested and rigorswould develop. The site of the bite could ulcerate, even become gangrenous, and the lymph nodes on that side of the body would swell up. The victim would then develop a very high temperature of 100 plus degrees. On the 4th -5th day a rash would develop on the chest, abdomen and the limbs. The nevous system would be involved now, the victim would become appathetic and listless by day, and by night delerious, bumbling etc. the disease lasts about 14-21 days if untreated.
Treatment and outcome:
The victim would usually be evacuated. Antibiotic therapy would be helpful but in 1914-18 there were none so treating the symptoms would have been the only defence. The high temperature had to be addressed as this remained high classically for 2 weeks and would then suddenly drop. Death in the victim would usually occur of heart failure due to this persistantly high temperature, especially if the victim was in poor health to start with. The classic time for death was day 14, the death rate though was variable. The disease would burn itself out by 3 weeks although the faeces would be still infective.
Although it is a disease that appeared in the trenches and has rarely been seen since, it is making a comeback with many papers reporting it amongst homeless street dwellers in cities where they are likely to become in contact with the body louse and vermin. Tests have shown that some antibiotics work but some like Septrin do not. It does beg the question to me yet again, how many men could have lived if we had a basic antibiotic.