In summer 1914, shortly before the start of World War I, "La Presse Médicale" published his French-language essay on the supposed medical hazards of asphalt concrete. Sterian argued that, being impossible to sweep clean, asphalt created unhygienic dust, and also warned that asphalt roads had a serious risk of structural collapse. During the following two years, in still-neutral Romania, he returned to his literary work, this time published in Romanian. "Tout pour l'enfant" was translated as "Copilul" ("The Child"), and bound together with Sterian's second comedy, "O invenție ciudată" ("A Strange Invention"). Following Romania's entry into the war, Sterian joined the medical officers' corps of the Second Army, becoming a Major on April 1, 1917, and a Lieutenant Colonel exactly four years later. He earned distinction with his work in combating typhus, contracting the disease himself and publishing his observations in 1918, when other articles of his also saw print in Ionescu-Caion's magazine, "Cronicarul". The year also marked his son Paul's debut in literature, at age 14.