Europe: Camp Epidemics

Abstract

One recurring theme of the previous chapter was the role of military assembly and training camps as sites for explosive outbreaks of infectious diseases during periods of wartime mobilization. Historically, however, the general problem of camp epidemics has extended beyond the initial massing of unseasoned recruits in barrack and tent camps on home soil to include the field camps, siege camps, and bivouacs of deployed armies, as well as temporary and makeshift military settlements such as prisoner of war (POW) and concentration camps. In this chapter, we examine the broader issue of camp epidemics (Theme 2 in Table III.A) with reference to sample wars in the European theatre. The social, physical, and environmental conditions that fuelled the spread of diseases in the military encampments of past wars, and which remain a potent threat in modern conflicts, are well known (Prinzing, 1916; Major, 1940; Bayne-Jones, 1968; Cantlie, 1974; Shepherd, 1991). As illustrated in Chapter 7 by the mobilization camps of the United States, military encampments of all kinds—often hastily erected and densely populated—provide a setting for intense population mixing, thereby increasing the likelihood of the transmission of infectious diseases. The epidemiological hazard is exacerbated by the injudicious selection of campsites and by the deleterious consequences of overcrowding, inadequate or non-existent drainage and sewerage systems, poor or contaminated water supplies, and by the failure to institute or to maintain rigid sanitary precautions. As for the occupants, they may be drawn from a variety of epidemiological backgrounds, they may possess different patterns of disease immunity, and their resistance to infection may be compromised by fatigue, trauma, mental and physical stress, exposure to the elements, and poor or inadequate diets. That there is often a high degree of spatial mobility between the constituent units of a camp system adds a powerful geographical component to the spread of camp epidemics. Against this background, the case studies presented in this chapter have been selected to illustrate different aspects of the geographical spread of camp epidemics.