Tuberculosis

[clive_hughes]

Hello folks,

in researching a soldier I have seen a statement (on his service papers) which dealt with his discharge in 1917 as an invalid.

This seems to give the man's condition as "Sacro Iliac (Tuberculous) disease"..."TB on tissues weakened by strain".

About four months later he died, the official death certificate recording the cause as "Pulmonary Tuberculosis".

I just wondered whether there is any significance in the medical terminology : I'm assuming the two types of TB are related or at least might be linked (could the disease spread?).

Expert opinions welcomed.

Thanks,

LST_164

[ypres1418]

You can have TB almost anywhere!

bone, kidneys but the lung was the most the popular,

sacro illiac is around the hip area, if that helps.

mandy

[cindyathome]

For any medical terms related to family hisotry research i generally use wikipedia or dictionary.com as they often come up with the obscure things that i can never work out. Has been helpful in the past. Worth taking a look though.

However, also the local societies are great. i had someone who died from 'teething' as a child. now everyone knows thats impossible but apparently it was from the powder they gave them that shut down the babies kidneys. so even try societies...they know the most obscure facts.

happy hunting with your research.

[Canadawwi]

I researched my great uncle, Pte. Wilbert Croft, 805556, who was discharged with tuberculosis. The medical files included some description of the symptoms and medical terms used. I'll copy part of it here as it might help others to see the reports filled out by soldiers with tuberculosis.

As I was transcribing a hand written report, I may have made mistakes with the medical terminology.

Pte. W. Croft, 136th Battalion.

Medical description on Form "Medical History of an Invalid" - July 30th, 1918.

Question 7: "Present disease?" Answer: "Pulmonary Tuberculosis".

Question 9: "Present condition of the soldier". Answer: "Subjective. Man complains of marked general weakness. He has free night sweats, constant cough with quite profuse expectoration, particularly night and morning. Man is markedly short of breath on moderate exertion. Objective. Man pale and markedly emaciated. Respiration 26 per min. Resp. pulse rate 140 per min. Infra Clavicular fossae prominent particularly the left. Chest flattened on both sides. Crepitant rales well marked on auscultation over both upper lobes. Amphoric breathing noted over an area just internal to inner angle."

Question 11: "Was the disabling condition, even if originating before enlistment, aggravated on military service?" Answer - Yes.

Question 12: "Was the disability caused or aggravated by negligence, by vice or by misconduct, or by unreasonable refusal to accept treatment?" Answer - No.

Additional doctor's notes:

"...of right scapula. Vocal resonance increased over right upper lobe posteriorly. Man's voice is horse being strongly suggestive of Laryngeal Tuberculosis."

Although eligible for a pension, he died on October 28th, 1918.

You can read my full medical report and biography on this soldier here:

Pte. W. Croft - medical reports/biography

[clive_hughes]

Mandy, Cindy and Canadaww1,

thank you so much for responding to this query.

I'm wondering, if TB in the hip area was what he got his discharge for, do you know how that relates to his stated cause of death a few months later: pulmonary (lung) TB?

You have been very helpful and I'm grateful,

LST_164

[ypres1418]

Most probably the infection moved around the body as he did not have treatment.

Although not regulary seen in this country we do still have outbreaks, TB of the lung being most infectious but care has to be taken when nursing other infected areas too.

Mandy

[clive_hughes]

Mandy,

I didn't know that TB could "travel" in that sense.

Might explain the two different bodily locations in the records.

Ta very much,

LST_164

[Doc2]

Mandy,

I didn't know that TB could "travel" in that sense.

Might explain the two different bodily locations in the records.

Ta very much,

LST_164

TB certainly can spread throughout the body, once the patient is infected. That is much more likely than assuming two totally independent infections. Generally speaking, we don't have enough information to definitively say whether his lung TB or his sacro-iliac TB killed him, but TB of the bones (which used to be called Pott's Disease) was less likely to be fatal than was pulmonary TB in this period. Doc2

[Fedelmar]

People might find this site useful.

http://www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/ArchaicMedicalTerms.htm

Bright Blessings

Sandra

[Robert Dunlop]

There is an excellent image of the pelvis here:

http://www.medicalook.com/systems_images/Sacrum.jpg

The sacroiliac joints are clearly labelled. They are the black lines either side of the blue-coloured sacrum. This picture also helps illustrate why the soldier would have been invalided out. Quite apart from the pain of an infection in the joint, you can see the dark splodges on the right wing of the ilium - the left side of the image as you look at it. These splodges illustrate the muscle attachments to the ilium, including the big muscle groups that run from the ilium into the front of the leg and are responsible for allowing you to left the thigh up, bending at the hip. Everytime the soldier tried to walk or lift his leg, the muscles would have pulled on the ilium and caused the sacroiliac joint to move. Even putting weight on the leg on the affected side would have been painful, as the weight transmits up through the joint.

As a minor point, TB can also affect joints as well as bone. It is possible that this man's problem started when the TB organism spread via the bloodstream into the joint. As the joint is so close to bone, spread into the bone was very likely, and even into the soft tissues around the joint. There are large numbers of important nerves in this area. An added complication may have been the triggering of sciatica too.

The local infection per se would not have killed this man, although it will have caused significant pain on movement. It is the general effects of infection that usually kill people. Even a localised infection can cause general effects, such as weight loss, etc. Hence Doc2's important observation. Given the cause of death on the certificate, the TB will have started in the lung, spread to the joint/bone, then become apparent in the lungs. He died of TB, pure and simple, but tragic.

Robert

[Desdichado]

My brother treated a patient with tubeculous spondylitis - Pott's Disease - for some time. The patient's spine was on the verge of collapse. It was thought that the disease was initially brought about by trauma as the patient had suffered a back injury in a car accident. Apparently the injury caused the favourable condtions in his body for the bacilli present to muliply. Is it possible your GU suffered a back injury at some point before he came down with TB? That might explain its origins.

Regards,

Des

[clive_hughes]

Desdichado,

no mention of a specific previous injury in his records, except that the strains of active service had played a part. Or to be precise, the Medical Board in May 1917 declared that he was physically and permanently unfit, and would be discharged as a result of Sacro Iliac (Tuberculous) disease which originated at Le Treport in mid-February that year, "Result of active service, TB infection on tissues weakened by strain". He was dead by September.

There is some information to the effect that he was not of a robust constitution even before the war when he was a teacher turned journalist. He was an ASC Clerk/Interpreter. Nothing in the service record that suggests he was in an inferior medical grade, however, or any other medical problems prior to this in nearly 2 years of service.

Thanks too Robert, Doc2 and Sandra. The diagram made things very clear! Needed a medical explanation, and now courtesy of all you pals I have just that.

The information will play its part in a Non-commemoration case, so if you're still interested watch the relevant space...

Thanks a bundle,

LST_164