Evening star., 1940-10-08
New Army Will Need
Tenth Of Physicians
Practicing in u. 5.
$4,000 Doctors Will Have
Charge of HeoIthiest
Troops Ever in Service
BY THOMAS r HENRY.

by 1hOMAS II. hENh1.
Third of a Series.)
The Army will need 10000 doc
tors-about one-tentn of the quail
fled practitioners IN the United
States-to guard the health of l.
400 900 men,
Eight thousand OF these will be
drawn from civilian life to supple
ment the force of 1900 medical off,
GERS in the Regular service, 1,500
National Guard doctors and 800 Re-
servists now on active duty. This
leaves about 5000 to be secured from
the $4,000 members of the Medical
Reserve Corps.
The Army does not expect that
all of these $4,000 will be available.
Some are already over the age when
they could be accepted for active
service and many others have family
obligations or duties to their COM
munities which would force them
to resign.
Disease Greatest Killer.
The importance of the job await
ing the men eventually brought into
service can hardly be exaggerated,
for in all wars disease has been a
far greater killer than all others
put together. They will have as
their charges the healthiest boys
ever in the military service and
such an armament of defense against |
the germs and viruseS as was un-
dreamed of even in 1917 But there
will be new menaces
The World War medical officer
knew his field Of opel ations-West-
ern Europe. At present the Army |
Medical Corps must be prepared for
hostilities in any part of the world
and must have defenses against the |
devastating diseases Of the tropics |
as well as those OF temperate cli-
mates. Any one OF the scores of |
viruses loose in the world might |
easily prove more deadly foe than
the armed forces of hostile nation. |
Up to date, so far as reports from
Europe can be trusted this has been
the healthiest of wars There have |
been no epidemic diseases in any |
army and new remedies have greatly |
reduced battle casualties But the
longer hostilities continue the more |
chance for the viruses.
Statistics on Wars.
I'm each of our wars 1t. Col. |
James S. Simmons of the Army |
Medical Corps says, "epidemics have
occurred and the morbidity and
mortality rates for disease have been
higher than those attributed to bat
tie. In the Mexican War, for ex-
ample, disease deaths were about !
seven times as numerous as those
due to wounds. During the Civil
War there were about 100000 ad-
missions for disease and the reported
causes for death were: Unknown,
$4,000; battle injuries, $4,000; dis
ease. 10000 The result is not sur
prisjng, for at that time few Of the
microscopic agents of disease had
been discovered and the microbio-
logical sciences were unknown.
In 1898, when the United States
engaged in its brief war with Spain,
both bacteriology ana protozoology
were developing rapidly The micro
organisms responsible for number
of specific diseases had been dis
covered. However, the epidemiology
of many infections was still imper-
fectly understood, ard, therefore,
military hygiene and sanitation were
neither we'll developer nor generally
appreciated. Again the infections,
especially typhoid. caused a larger
proportion of casualties, and for
every man killed in battle seven died
of disease.
Two decades later our Army en-
tered the World War better pre-
pared to meet the challenge of GER
tain Infectious diseases. Between
April, 1917. and December. 1919,
about 1000, 900 men were mobilized-
a larger Army than had partici-
pated in any previous war in the
history of man. In this enormous
force the casualty rates for total
diseases were considerably lower
than in previous wars, there being
$4,000 deaths due to battle and $4,000
attributed to disease"
Some Diseases Eliminated.
Some of the diseases which lit
orally wiped out armies in other
wars now have been, for all prac-
tical purposes, eliminated. One
fourth the disease casualties of the
Northern armies during the Civil
War were due to diarrheal infec-
tions. In the World War deaths
from this cause were only 7-100ths
of per cent-due chiefly to better
sanitation. The chief cause of
death in the Confederate armies
was measles. This flared up in
camps during the World War but
caused few actual deaths. 1t re-
mains a paradoxical disease. Men
of military age might be expected
to have had it as children and
acquired immunity to any further
infection. 1t is the experience of
armies that troops from rural COM
munities may not have built up
this resistance.
In the Spanish American War
there was a death rate of IA per
1000 from typhoid fever. If this
rate had been kept up during the
World War, $4,000 men would have
died of the malady-or more than
actually died from all disease cause.
Actually the death rate was only
in 50,0OO-a remarkable tribute
to the efficiency of the repeated
knocks" for which Army doctors
were so vigorously "cussed" by
recruits.