Before World War II the majority of fatalities in war were not caused by trauma but by diseases. Common diseases like dysentery, cholera, typhus, typhoid fever, smallpox and the influenza would wipe out entire camps of soldiers before bullets were ever fired. WWII marked the transition to trauma causing the most fatalities. Trauma wounds are defined as an injury to living tissue caused by an extrinsic agents like bullets, shrapnel, or blunt force injuries. Medical advances with blood transfusions, vaccines, and antibiotics caused a shift from infection being the most significant cause of combat fatalities to trauma causing the most deaths. Modern military history from a medical perspective can be divided into two eras, the Infection Era and
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Soldiers and doctors practiced poor hygiene, which helped spread disease. On average the infectious deaths to combat deaths was
4.34:1 between 1775 and 1918. The highest ratio occurred during the War of 1812.
Blood transfusions are the transfer of one or more of these components from one individual to another. Blood transfusions were invented approximately 200 years ago. 12 At the advent of transfusions they had a 50% mortality rate. At first this was thought to be a result of infectious disease; however, later research showed that the deaths occurred too soon for them to be a result of infections. It was not until 1909 that Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types. Landsteiner discovered that blood cells carry antigens that create the major blood types of A, B, AB, and O.13 These antigens are markers that tell the body that the blood is not foreign.
Up until the early 20th century blood transfusions were not practical on the battlefield because blood could not easily be stored. When blood is stored it coagulates, which means the blood cells clump up and become unusable. Two important …show more content…
These discoveries led up to the creation of the first Red Cross Blood transfusion service in 1926 in Great Britain and the first blood bank hospital in Leningrad Russia in 1932. Blood transfusions were a miracle for war medicine because it allowed surgeons to maintain the
15 supply of oxygen to the brain after injury and blood loss. WWII was the first war in which blood transfusions were practical.16
The last and most significant inventions are antibiotics. They are considered to be the miracle drug of the 20th century. Alexander Fleming invented penicillin in 1928.17
Fleming was a professor of bacteriology at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in
London. He discovered bacteriolytic agents that destroyed the structures of certain bacteria. He called these agents lysozymes. This was the backbone of his research on penicillin. His discovery was pure luck. While growing staphylococci bacteria he discovered a mold sample contaminating one of the plates. He observed that the bacteria would not grow near the mold sample18. He established that specific strains of mold could inhibit growth and create antibacterial substances.19 It took ten years and the
Soldiers and doctors practiced poor hygiene, which helped spread disease. On average the infectious deaths to combat deaths was
4.34:1 between 1775 and 1918. The highest ratio occurred during the War of 1812.
Blood transfusions are the transfer of one or more of these components from one individual to another. Blood transfusions were invented approximately 200 years ago. 12 At the advent of transfusions they had a 50% mortality rate. At first this was thought to be a result of infectious disease; however, later research showed that the deaths occurred too soon for them to be a result of infections. It was not until 1909 that Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types. Landsteiner discovered that blood cells carry antigens that create the major blood types of A, B, AB, and O.13 These antigens are markers that tell the body that the blood is not foreign.
Up until the early 20th century blood transfusions were not practical on the battlefield because blood could not easily be stored. When blood is stored it coagulates, which means the blood cells clump up and become unusable. Two important …show more content…
These discoveries led up to the creation of the first Red Cross Blood transfusion service in 1926 in Great Britain and the first blood bank hospital in Leningrad Russia in 1932. Blood transfusions were a miracle for war medicine because it allowed surgeons to maintain the
15 supply of oxygen to the brain after injury and blood loss. WWII was the first war in which blood transfusions were practical.16
The last and most significant inventions are antibiotics. They are considered to be the miracle drug of the 20th century. Alexander Fleming invented penicillin in 1928.17
Fleming was a professor of bacteriology at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in
London. He discovered bacteriolytic agents that destroyed the structures of certain bacteria. He called these agents lysozymes. This was the backbone of his research on penicillin. His discovery was pure luck. While growing staphylococci bacteria he discovered a mold sample contaminating one of the plates. He observed that the bacteria would not grow near the mold sample18. He established that specific strains of mold could inhibit growth and create antibacterial substances.19 It took ten years and the