Trench Fever

[stephenh]

I have just received service papers on a Canadian soldier I`m researching and it says that he was evacuated back to Blighty suffering from `Trench Fever`. Could anybody let me know what the symptons of Trench fever were and how they may have been contracted.

Regards

Stephen

[Aurel Sercu]

Hi Stephen,

A very interesting question, and I could write some things about it, but other people can do a lot better than me. And as a matter of fact, they already have :

See Chit-Chat, where the same question was asked a couple of weeks ago.

Topic started by Ian Bowbrick on 15 June.

And there are some very extensive and expert replies.

Aurel Sercu

[stephenh]

Aurel

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, I`ll check it out straight away. Silly me

[mordac]

Hi Stephen:

Aurel has pointed you in the right direction. There is a comprehensive description of trench fever posted by bmac. Try this link.

In the last couple of days I've found some additional information on trench fever in the book "Field Sanitation" by Major R. St. J. MacDonald M.D., published in 1918. Here's a quote from page 81:

"Trench Fever Spread By Lice - It has been definitely established that trench fever is caused by a germ which gets access to the blood. Trench fever is a well-defined disease, and is not, as has frequently been thought, a form of enteric fever. The disease is transmitted from one infected person to another by means of the bite of the ordinary body louse, and this appears to be the common means of transmission. It has also been proved that, if the body juices or excreta gets rubbed into the skin through a slight wound or an abrasion by scratching trench fever may develop. The incubation period varies from five to twenty days."

Garth