Title Epidemics and the American military : five times disease changed the course of war / Jack E. McCallum

Published Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, [2023]

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 266 pages) : illustrations Contents Introduction-Four Ways to Fight an Epidemic -- . Immunology-The Virus and the Virginian -- . Ecology-Typhoid in Two Wars -- . A Different Approach to Ecology-Mosquitoes, Microbes, -- and Medics -- . Quarantine-Influenza and the American Expeditionary Force -- . Pharmacology-Malaria and World War II Summary " In Epidemics and the American Military, Dr. Jack McCallum examines the major role the military has played propagating and controlling disease throughout this nation's history. The U.S. armed forces recruit young people from isolated rural areas and densely populated cities, many of whom have been exposed to a smorgasbord of germs. After training and living in close contact with each other for months, soldiers are shipped across countries and continents and meet civilians and other armies. McCallum argues that if one set out to design a perfect world for an aggressive pathogen, it would be hard to do better than an army at war. There are four ways to combat epidemic infectious diseases: quarantine, altering the ecology in which infections spread, medical treatment of infection, and immunization. Each has played a specific but often overlooked role in American wars. A case can be made that General George Washington saved the American Revolution when he mandated inoculation of the Continental Army with smallpox. The Union Army might very well have taken Richmond in 1862 had it not been for an epidemic of typhoid fever during the Peninsular Campaign. Yellow fever was a proximate cause of the American invasion of Cuba in 1898, and its control enabled a continued U.S. presence on the island and in the rest of the Caribbean. Had it not been for influenza, German Gen. Erich Ludendorff might well have succeeded in his offensive in the closing years of World War I. Before senior Army and Naval officers recognized the importance of anti-malarial prophylaxis and forced its acceptance by hesitant troops, the World War II Solomon and New Guinea campaigns were in danger of collapsing. "-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on September 26, 2023) Subject Medicine, Military -- United States -- History War -- Medical aspects -- History Communicable diseases -- Transmission -- History Epidemics -- United States -- History Smallpox -- United States -- Prevention -- History -- 18th century Typhoid fever -- Virginia -- Richmond -- History -- 19th century Yellow fever -- Cuba -- Prevention -- History -- 20th century Influenza -- Germany -- History -- 20th century Malaria -- Pacific Area -- Prevention -- History -- 20th century MEDICAL / Infectious Diseases. HISTORY / Military / United States. Communicable diseases -- Transmission Epidemics Influenza Malaria -- Prevention Medicine, Military Smallpox -- Prevention Typhoid fever War -- Medical aspects Yellow fever -- Prevention Cuba Germany Pacific Area United States Virginia -- Richmond Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2023007792 ISBN 1682478106 9781682478103

Other Titles Five times disease changed the course of war 5 times disease changed the course of war

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