Interview With Terry Reimer
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Terry Reimer is the director of research at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. The museum is home to many different artifacts and information on medicine during the civil war. Terry Reimer was able to assist us in a brief interview on the topic, providing an insight and information on some of the medical practices of the civil war. Below are a few of the questions we asked that he was able to provide great feedback to
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What disease or sickness was a soldier most likely to get? |
Diarrhea and dysentery (diarrhea with bloody stools) were often combined during the war for record keeping purposes. They were by far the most common complaint of Civil War soldiers, and also caused the most deaths and debility. Diarrhea was categorized as being either acute or chronic. Acute diarrhea was more dangerous, but the lingering effects of chronic diarrhea could remain with a person for the rest of his life.
As to the causes, there were many. Poor rations, unsanitary conditions, food poisoning, bacteria, and a host of other diseases like typhoid fever and scurvy could cause diarrhea. Many of the soldiers had weakened immune systems due to malnutrition, so the unsanitary conditions and bacteria found an easy mark. The Civil War took place before germ theory was accepted, so there is little to go by in diagnosing a particular case. All were grouped in the diarrhea/dysentery classification. Today, we know the two most probable pathogens that cause dysentery: Shigella dysenteria, which caused bacterial dysentery; and Entamoeba histolytica, which caused amoebic dysentery. The usual treatment for diarrhea and dysentery was some form of opiates, like morphine. Opiates tend to cause constipation and can have some effect on lessening diarrhea. Blue mass was a type of drug that contained mercury. Mercury causes the evacuation of the bowels and can make diarrhea worse. That said, it was sometimes used for its treatment. |
Was vaccines available at the time?
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Vaccinations were only available for smallpox. Inoculation was developed in the 1720s and is the introduction of disease agents into the body to produce a mild form of the disease. It is usually done by using scabs from infected persons, administered to the patient through small cuts made in the skin. Vaccination was developed in 1798 by Jenner and is the use of attenuated or killed disease agents and used for the prevention or treatment of disease. Smallpox was the only disease which was routinely treated during the Civil War with inoculation and vaccination. Vaccination for smallpox was at times done using cowpox serum, since cowpox was a closely related disease and would create a resistance to smallpox. The vaccine was administered through a series of small cuts in the skin.
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How successful were medical procedures at the time, such as amputations? |
Here are some specific statistics on wounding and amputation during the Civil War, taken from The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War. Of the total number of wounded, approximately 31% were wounded in the upper extremities and 31% in the lower extremities, 23% in the trunk and 15% in the face and neck. Trunk and head injuries may be under counted because they tended to be fatal injuries and many of the men never made it to a hospital.
For amputations, survival rates varied depending on where on the body the amputation took place. The most common amputation sites on the body were the hand, thigh, lower leg, and upper arm. The likelihood of surviving an amputation depended on the distance of the operation site from the trunk of the body, and how long after the injury the surgery was performed. Generally, mortality rates dropped as the distance from the trunk of the body increased. The Civil War mortality rates by amputation site are as follows: hand or fingers 2.9%, wrist joint 10.4%, forearm 14%, elbow joint 7.6%, upper arm 23.8%, shoulder joint 29.1%, foot or toes 5.7%, ankle joint 25.1%, lower leg 33.2%, knee joint 57.5%, thigh 54.2%, and hip joint 83.3%. (From: The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War Volume XII, pp. 877-878, statistics for the Union Army). |