Why did so many soldiers die of diseases in civil war?

Answer 1

The primary reason so many soldiers died from disease during the American Civil War is due to poor sanitation conditions.

Until Louis Pasteur discovered the cause of disease, no one had ever heard of the germ theory of disease.

Florence Nightingale, A Battlefield Nurse, had to keep statistics showing the value of cleanliness before commanding officers would take the effort to keep hospitals clean. After the cause of disease was discovered and the value of cleanliness was proven, disease among solders decreased.

Walter Reed reduced it some more when he proved that mosquitoes carried malaria and yellow fever.

Today injury is the main cause of problems with stress a close second.

Answer 2

ASTHENIA: Weakness or debility.

BILIOUS REMITTENT FEVER: Archaic term for relapsing fever characterized by bilious vomiting and diarrhea.

CAMP FEVER: This term was used for all of the continuing fevers experienced by the army: Typhoid Fever, Malarial Remittent Fever, and Typho-malarial Fever. The last named is a combination of elements from the first two diseases. This combination, Typho-malarial Fever, was the characteristic "camp fever" during the Civil War. Symptoms included: a pronounced chill followed by an intermittent fever, abdominal tenderness and nausea, general debility, diarrhea, retention of urine, and furring of the tongue.

CARDITIS: Inflammation of the heart.

CATARRH: Inflammation of the mucous membranes with increased flow of mucous.

CONSUMPTION: Tuberculosis (also called Phthisis).

DIPHTHERIA: Acute bacterial illness characterized by sore throat and fever; serious and even fatal complications can occur.

DROPSY: Archaic word for edema; abnormal accumulation of fluid in cells, tissues, or cavities of the body.

DYSENTERY: Various intestinal diseases with inflammation of the bowels, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea.

ENDOCARDITIS: Inflammation of the heart.

ERYSIPELAS: Acute inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by streptococcus bacteria; characterized by reddening and severe inflammation, can lead to pustules. Usually accompanied by severe constitutional symptoms.

FISTULA: Forming an abnormal hollow passage from an abscess or cavity to the skin or an organ.

HYPERTROPHY: Enlargement.

NEPHRITIS: Inflammation of the kidneys.

PHTHISIS: Tuberculosis (also called Consumption).

PILES: Hemorrhoids.

PLEURITIS (PLEURISY): Inflammation of the membrane enveloping the lungs.

RHEUMATIC FEVER: Infectious disease causing fever, pain, swelling of the joints, and inflammation of the valves of the heart.

RHEUMATISM: Chronic inflammation of the joints; also an obsolete term for rheumatic fever.

RUBEOLA: Measles.

ST. VITAS DANCE: Disorder of the central nervous system characterized by involuntary jerky movements, usually follows an attack of rheumatic fever; now called Sydenham's Chorea.

SCORBUTIC ULCERS: Ulcers caused by scurvy.

SCROFULA: Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands especially of the neck, characterized by the enlargement and degeneration of the glands.

SCURVY: A disease marked by debility, anemia, edema, and ulceration of the gums, due to a lack of Vitamin C.

SMALLPOX: An acute, eruptive, contagious disease caused by a virus and marked by an onset of chills, high fever, backache and headache. Skin eruptions appear in two to five days.

SYPHILIS: A venereal disease caused by a spirochete which consists of three phases. PRIMARY: Characterized by a hard chancre on the genitals; SECONDARY: Characterized by eruptions on the skin and mucous membranes and the generalized enlargement of the lymph nodes; TERTIARY: Characterized by the infection and disablement of bones, muscles, and nerve tissue.

TUBERCULOSIS: Infectious disease causing tubercles in the lungs, characterized by fever, weakness, and emaciation.

TYPHOID FEVER: Acute infectious disease characterized by continued rising fever, physical and mental depression, rose-colored spots, loss of appetite, and dry mouth with furred tongue.

TYPHOID PNEUMONIA: Pneumonia as a complication of typhoid fever.

TYPHUS: A group of acute Infectious Diseases characterized by severe fever, chills, weakness, joint ache and headache. Similar to Typhoid Fever. See Camp Fever. ASTHENIA: Weakness or debility.

BILIOUS REMITTENT FEVER: Archaic term for relapsing fever characterized by bilious vomiting and diarrhea.

CAMP FEVER: This term was used for all of the continuing fevers experienced by the army: Typhoid Fever, Malarial Remittent Fever, and Typho-malarial Fever. The last named is a combination of elements from the first two diseases. This combination, Typho-malarial Fever, was the characteristic "camp fever" during the Civil War. Symptoms included: a pronounced chill followed by an intermittent fever, abdominal tenderness and nausea, general debility, diarrhea, retention of urine, and furring of the tongue.

CARDITIS: Inflammation of the heart.

CATARRH: Inflammation of the mucous membranes with increased flow of mucous.

CONSUMPTION: Tuberculosis (also called Phthisis).

DIPHTHERIA: Acute bacterial illness characterized by sore throat and fever; serious and even fatal complications can occur.

DROPSY: Archaic word for edema; abnormal accumulation of fluid in cells, tissues, or cavities of the body.

DYSENTERY: Various intestinal diseases with inflammation of the bowels, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea.

ENDOCARDITIS: Inflammation of the heart.

ERYSIPELAS: Acute inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by streptococcus bacteria; characterized by reddening and severe inflammation, can lead to pustules. Usually accompanied by severe constitutional symptoms.

FISTULA: Forming an abnormal hollow passage from an abscess or cavity to the skin or an organ.

HYPERTROPHY: Enlargement.

NEPHRITIS: Inflammation of the kidneys.

PHTHISIS: Tuberculosis (also called Consumption).

PILES: Hemorrhoids.

PLEURITIS (PLEURISY): Inflammation of the membrane enveloping the lungs.

RHEUMATIC FEVER: Infectious disease causing fever, pain, swelling of the joints, and inflammation of the valves of the heart.

RHEUMATISM: Chronic inflammation of the joints; also an obsolete term for rheumatic fever.

RUBEOLA: Measles.

ST. VITAS DANCE: Disorder of the central nervous system characterized by involuntary jerky movements, usually follows an attack of rheumatic fever; now called Sydenham's Chorea.

SCORBUTIC ULCERS: Ulcers caused by scurvy.

SCROFULA: Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands especially of the neck, characterized by the enlargement and degeneration of the glands.

SCURVY: A disease marked by debility, anemia, edema, and ulceration of the gums, due to a lack of Vitamin C.

SMALLPOX: An acute, eruptive, contagious disease caused by a virus and marked by an onset of chills, high fever, backache and headache. Skin eruptions appear in two to five days.

SYPHILIS: A venereal disease caused by a spirochete which consists of three phases. PRIMARY: Characterized by a hard chancre on the genitals; SECONDARY: Characterized by eruptions on the skin and mucous membranes and the generalized enlargement of the lymph nodes; TERTIARY: Characterized by the infection and disablement of bones, muscles, and nerve tissue.

TUBERCULOSIS: Infectious disease causing tubercles in the lungs, characterized by fever, weakness, and emaciation.

TYPHOID FEVER: Acute infectious disease characterized by continued rising fever, physical and mental depression, rose-colored spots, loss of appetite, and dry mouth with furred tongue.

TYPHOID PNEUMONIA: Pneumonia as a complication of typhoid fever.

TYPHUS: A group of acute infectious diseases characterized by severe fever, chills, weakness, joint ache and headache. Similar to Typhoid Fever. See Camp Fever.

Answer 3

Dysentry, which is essentially bloody diarrhea, scurvy, which comes from malnutrition, (I think; go look it up, I'm not sure,) malaria, from mosquitoes, gangrene/infection of wounds, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, pneumonia, (which Stonewall Jackson died from,) as well as your day to day sicknesses, like the flu, the common cold, and others.

Answer 4

Other than those related to famine in the later stages, epidemics during the war included typhoid fever ("camp fever"), smallpox, tuberculosis, dysentery, cholera, and even measles.