Essay On Trench Foot

During the early nine-teen century WW1 broke out with a serious disease called Trench Foot, was more common to encounter within soldiers than any other disease. This disease was caused by a combination of wet feet with lacerations which allowed infections to worsten within the insanitary conditions. This effected the men who stood for hours in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. Trenches were dug often at or near sea level. Conditions made it easier to get Trench Foot with the common temperatures of 30F to 40F and with the poor environmental hygiene of lice, rats, dead corpse sorrounding their postions of battle. The disease of Trench Foot was so fast growing a 24 hour cycle could allow you to encounter the full development of the disease.

Trench Foot can cause loss of circulation and nerve function in the feet
Trench foot was treated with bedrest along with foot washes made from lead and opium. Also potassium permanganate foot bath which helps draw fluids out of the affected area. As improvement, you should look out for signs of infection, such as swelling or oozing of any wound and massage whale oils to help. It is estimated that a battalion (1007 men and 30 officers) used up to ten gallons of whale oil every day! Trench foot was a very serious epidemic during WW1 because of the estimated 2,000 Americans and 75,000 British soldiers died. Part of the reason epidemic played a big part with Trench foot was because medications was limited. The lack of understanding how Trench Foot happens was slowly understood. 1916, John Logie Baird helped alleviate this problem of this disease because he started the sell of socks prepared with borat which help try to prevent it from