US Civil War Diseases

[ChalkLine]

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/ame...-thankful.html

[ChalkLine]

My reason behind posting this is that the dry and academic list of diseases usually don't contain this sort of after-action reports that bring life to a campaign.

[WallShadow]

Maggots are your friends.

[Silent Hunter UK]

I'd imagine that veneral diseases were a real problem as well, but most GMs do not want to roleplay someone having genital warts.

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[WallShadow]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

I'd imagine that veneral diseases were a real problem as well, but most GMs do not want to roleplay someone having genital warts.
k

Of course, roleplaying a crazy doctor whose treatment for venereal diseases with topical application of liquid mustard gas or napalm.

[ChalkLine]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

Of course, roleplaying a crazy doctor whose treatment for venereal diseases with topical application of liquid mustard gas or napalm.

: passes out :

[unkated]

Trench Foot, a major problem during WW1. By later in the war, the causes (foot immersion/damp) were identified and a variety of means of mitigation devised. This is why by WW2, there was a thorough routine for nearly all armies to include foot care - and these had enough NCOs who remembered WW1 to know why it was important and enforce the regs.

However, it became an issue in the Falklands, and at various music festivals. in the 1990s (see link).

I can see this being an issue where troops may lose amounts of spare kit (spare dry socks) in periods of lengthy, chilly damp weather (Fall, Winter, Spring) spent in the field.

Trench foot will damage the foot, whereas Chilblains will just produce misery.

Uncle Ted

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

I'd imagine that veneral diseases were a real problem as well, but most GMs do not want to roleplay someone having genital warts.

See the book "The story the soldiers wouldn't tell: sex in the Civil War" by Thomas P. Lowry. I read it years ago, I'm sure there was a part about VD.

[WallShadow]

Considering the scarcity of food, one thinks to add deficiency diseases--beriberi,scurvy,pellagra,goiter,and bone deterioration--to the discussion.

[swaghauler]

Am I the only one who saw this thread and had a flashback of a guy with a red cross on his helmet saying..."Take two Motrin, drink more water, and change your socks?"

Who here remembers reading about the "good ol' days" of the Wild West when venereal disease was treated with... MERCURY? How about the UNSHIELDED X-Ray machines in shoe stores putting out 10 TIMES the radiation of most modern X-Ray machines? I bet little Timmy wouldn't have been so excited to see his toes through that shoe if they had known more about Cancer.