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The Health of Italian Troops and Prisoners During World War I

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The Health of Italian Troops and Prisoners During World War I Le Infezioni in Medicina, n. 4, 468-478, 2019 468 INFECTIONS IN THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE The health of Italian troops and prisoners during World War I Sergio Sabbatani1, Sirio Fiorino2, Roberto Manfredi1 1Istituto di Malattie Infettive, Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpighi, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; 2Unità Operativa di Medicina Interna C, Ospedale Maggiore, Azienda USL di Bologna, Bologna, Italy SUMMARY During the Great War, which involved Italy from May fering from the above psychiatric disorders were con- 1915 until November 1918, the Italian Army paid an ex- sidered simulators by the great majority of psychiatrists, tremely high price in terms of suffering; around 600,000 who largely believed such soldiers wanted to avoid ac- soldiers died. About 100,000 of these deaths were tive combat. They were subjected to electric shocks and caused by diseases, mainly infectious ones. The casu- later sent back to the war front or to a mental hospital alties accounted for over one million cases. Epidemics in the most severe cases. In some dramatic occurrenc- of cholera and petechial typhus were recorded as well es, like at the time of the Caporetto defeat, a substantial as an increase in morbidity due to tuberculosis and ma- number of soldiers were dealt rough justice in front of laria, which had shown some minor epidemiological firing squads under the suspicion of desertion. reduction in several regions of Italy during the years Yet World War I, with its dramatic load of suffering, preceding the Great War. A large number of soldiers forced the medical environment to develop extremely acquired respiratory tract and brain infections. Severe innovative techniques and research applied to clinical limb infections were due to war wounds, but also to a practice. During the decades to follow, such efforts novel disorder called “trench foot”, In a context of gen- yielded major results in the field of pharmacology: eral hygienic decay, death and stress linked to massive studies which led to the discovery of the first antibiot- bombing, severe psychiatric disorders were observed. ics were set in motion. They were called “shell shock” in English (and known in Italy as “the wind of the howitzer”). The patients suf- Keywords: world war I, health, Italian army. We are as in autumn on branches the leaves plosion3, bullets fired by snipers, or lesions caused Giuseppe Ungaretti1 by gas, while around 100,000 deaths were probably due to diseases. But an extremely elevated number uring the World War I, that lasted 4 years, Italian of deaths were related to the inhuman life constrains Army paid a tribute of around 600,000 deaths2, D in the trenches. The soldiers spent their life concur- whose 500,000 were estimated as due to grenade ex- rently with tremendous hygienic conditions of path- ways and refuges, by using precarious hygienic ser- 1 Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970). In the year 1914, at the start vices, all locations infested by rats (Figure 1). of the World War I, Ungaretti participated in the interventional Moreover, the promiscuity of campfires was ex- campaign, and later he was enrolled as a voluntary in the tremely high. Many attempts were tried to keep nineteenth Regimen of Infantry of the Brescia Brigade, when Italy entered the war. When fighting in the Carso region, he rats away from defence lines or to eliminate them, wrote a book of poems which were printed in 80 copies at by means of the classic use of poison and traps, a typography located in Udine in 1916, with the title “The until a sort of rat hunting, competing among who buried port”. The quoted poem is enclosed in a collection was more able to trap the greater number of rats. called “Cheerfulness of shipwreck” (1919). 2 The risk of plague was immanent, and the prob- Other estimates record the number of deaths in 650,000 lem was also faced with the help of dogs. Corresponding author 3 Before the introduction of metal helmets in the first months Sergio Sabbatani of 1916, 60% of overall deaths during the World War I were E-mail: [email protected] caused by the explosion of grenades called “shrapnel” The health of Italian troops and prisoners during the World War I 469 Figure 1 - An exhibition of mice, after a “hunting trip” Figure 2 - Italians prisoners in Milovice, during the Gre- in a trench. at War (from Mauthausen 1918 by Gian Paolo Bertelli). Not infrequently, soldiers acquired infectious dis- of the Italian military commanders, the presumed eases, including bacterial (meningococcal) epi- cowardice of the soldiers could have been the demic brain-spinal meningitis, epidemic encepha- cause of their surrender as well as the lack of will litis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, rheumatic disease, to fight. Only the family of prisoners were report- malaria, and syphilis as the most common sexu- ed to send some food help, while the Italian estab- ally-transmitted disease. Furthermore, true epi- lishment tried to stop these initiatives [2]. Because demics of cholera and petechial typhus occurred, of the maritime blockade, the German and Austri- and, at the end of war, in the winter between 1918 an-Hungarian empires faced an extremely severe and 1919, before that troops were moved away, the alimentary crisis, and at the end of the war the same great influenza pandemic (the so-called Spanish populations suffered a real starving. This nutrition- influenza)4, appeared. al crisis was considered one of the main causes of With regard to cholera, the first episodes occurred the collapse of German Empire. In this context the in the Isonzo river front, where around 6,000 Italian prisoners - considered as traitors after the deaths were recorded. As a consequence, a vaccine abandonment of the Triple Alliance5 carried out campaign was directed to military troops, and this by Italy in the year 1914, at the start of World War decision caused a decrease of disease cases among I - were those who paid the greatest punishment, troops as well as hindered the diffusion hindered since they were suspected of betrayal in Italy and the diffusion of the epidemic in the general pop- were considered betrayers also by the enemies, ulation throughout the country. The anti-cholera since they were Italian soldiers. Even the Red Cross vaccination gave a protection of short time around organization was prohibited to collect aids for the six months. This measure anyway was useful to prisoners. Also because of this shameful attitude of suppress potentially devastating epidemics, like the authorities and the concurrent, negative propa- those which involved the belligerent troops, dur- ganda, the deaths of Italian prisoners became more ing the World War I. and more numerous: in fact, the mortality rate of Beyond the already mentioned deaths, the Italian Italian prisoners was 9 times greater compared army had around 100,000 soldiers who died as with that of Austrian-Hungarian prisoners in Italy. prisoners, out of about 600,000 Italian soldiers, who The prison camp of Milovice in Bohemia (now lo- were taken as prisoners during the war. The ma- cated in the Czech Republic) was built to host up jority of deaths was due to malnutrition and infec- to 20,000 persons, but it accommodated a double tious diseases acquired during the detention itself. number of prisoners, mainly Italians. In this place It’s important to consider that the attitude of Ital- many prisoners lost their life due to typhoid fever, ian military headquarters, concerning the soldiers, famine, malnutrition, and frostbite [Figure 2]. was that of suspicion: according to general opinion 5 The treaties of the Triple Alliance were concluded between 1882 and 1912 among German, Austrian-Humgarian Empires 4 his influenza epidemic took its name from the early location (Central Empires) and the Italian Kingdom. They gave a series of the first cases in Europe, which occurred in the Iberian of military defence rules, which were updated four times in Peninsula. the subsequent years 1887, 1891, 1902, and 1912. 470 S. Sabbatani, S. Fiorino, R. Manfredi In the local cemetery 5,170 Italian soldiers were island, including sick and healthy persons, taken buried, in comparison with 521 Russians, and 51 in a close promiscuity. This dangerous case mix Serbians [2]. Among the Italians dead in Milovice led to thousands of deaths [3-7]. At the end of the the most frequent diagnoses were the following: war, the Vittorio Veneto day was followed by a pneumonia, meningitis, heart failure, pulmonary forced immigration of Austrian-Hungarian pris- oedema, tuberculosis, Spanish influenza, and oners, which led to a novel epidemic of petechi- cholera. Several necropsy studies were performed, al typhus, characterized by the greatest number which allowed to find a complete disappearance of victims [8]. In addition, during the years of of fat from the thoracic and abdominal districts, World War 1, in Italy a significant recrudescence and from limbs, too. The problems generated by of endemic malaria was observed; in the previous the health management of enemy prisoners, and years, thanks to environmental reclamation poli- in particular those of the Austrian-Hungarian ar- tics, a modest reduction of its clinical impact has mies, was nagging for the Italian Kingdom too. been achieved. The causes of the re-appearance After the defeat of the Serbian army6, Italy took of elevated malaria transmission depend on the care of recovering the Serbian army remains, from destruction of the hydraulic reclamation works in the coast of Albania. After the abandonment of the Veneto region, the reduced availability of qui- Serbian territories, the Austrian-Hungarian pris- nine during the conflict, and the massive move- oners, around 50,000 people, were considered as ment of a great number of citizens and soldiers, a “bargaining ship” in an eventual negotiation which followed the Caporetto defeat.
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