Military Medical Entomology During the Mexican-American and First World Wars: A Coming of Age

Abstract

An inchoate appreciation for the profound impacts poor field sanitation exacted on troop strength and morale during the Civil War led to the establishment of the US Sanitary Commission in 1861. Even so, a full realization of the critical role sanitation and insect control play in the prevention of communicable diseases had to await the birth of medical entomology brought about by the brilliant discoveries of pioneers in tropical medicine decades later. Indeed, the Spanish-American War reemphasized that we had not learned our lessons in exposing immunologically naive troops to exotic diseases and those caused by poor sanitation, and enormous numbers of communicable disease casualties were the predictable results.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 16, 2008
Accession Number
ADP023968

Entities

People

  • Joseph Conlon

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Casualties
  • Civil War
  • First World War
  • Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections
  • Health Services
  • Hygiene
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Medicine
  • Pest Control
  • Physicians
  • Preventive Medicine
  • Public Health
  • Quarantine
  • United States
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • History

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design