Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

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
page 231
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