New Zealand Medical Services in Middle East and Italy
Infectious Disease in Reinforcements
Infectious Disease in Reinforcements
Of the three reinforcements arriving during this period, the 5th and 7th brought many cases of infectious disease with attendant problems for the medical services in Egypt. The influenza epidemic of the 5th Reinforcements, and the measures taken to prevent its spread, has been described. Some influenza was also present in the 7th Reinforcements, and mumps and measles cases were brought over by both the 5th and 7th Reinforcements. Although a very few cases of mumps were reported for three months following the arrival of the 5th Reinforcements, there was no record of any spread to the troops in Egypt of any of the infectious diseases brought over in the transports. This is rather remarkable and is associated with the experience that the ordinary infectious diseases prevalent in New Zealand developed to little or no extent in our troops in the Middle East.
The following table shows the number of sick patients admitted to hospital for the period June–December 1941:
Month | Dysentery | Sandfly Fever | VD | Pneumonia | Malaria | Infective Hepatitis |
Jun | 124 | ? | 190 | 14 | 10 | 45 |
Jul | 103 | 134 | 192 | 49 | 39 | 77 |
Aug | 157 | 205 | 144 | 49 | 66 | 48 |
Sep | 99 | 205 | 119 | 14 | 117 | 27 |
Oct | 102 | 73 | 95 | 16 | 71 | 41 |
Nov | 255 | 30 | 59 | 26 | 8 | 41 |
Dec | 75 | 3 | 60 | 26 | 8 | 23 |
Month | Diphtheria | Mumps | Poliomyelitis | Strength of Force | Total admiss. | Daily Rate per 1000 Officers | ORs |
Jun | 22 | 2 | 27,203 | 2190 | 2.7 | ||
Jul | 27 | 2 | 30,981 | 1384 | 1.4 | ||
Aug | 3 | 18 | 30,840 | 1900 | 2.4 | 2.03 | |
Sep | 1 | 2 | 30,566 | 1.9 | 1.6 | ||
Oct | 6 | 35 | 36,220 | 2.0 | 2.2 | ||
Nov | 2 | 104 | 35,102 | ? | |||
Dec | 15 | 10 | 32,871 | 1540 | 1.4 | 1.4 |