CHAPTER XI 



TRENCH FEVER 

 By Major W. BYAM, R.A.M.C. 



IF not a new disease, at any rate a disease with a 

 new name, has come into prominence during the 

 Great War. As this disease was first recognised 

 by us among men in or near the trenches in 

 France, we gave it the name of Trench Fever. 

 So striking was the localisation of the trouble 

 that it was felt for a long time that the trenches, 

 or conditions of trench life, were essential to the 

 production of this illness. We now know better, 

 for it has been proved beyond doubt that the 

 lice that infest so many of our soldiers are re- 

 sponsible for the carrying of the disease from 

 man to man. At the same time we see why 

 the trenches came to play so important a role 

 when the disease first made its appearance, for 

 it requires but little imagination to realise that 

 the man in the fighting line would be the first 

 to become lousy. While face to face with the 

 enemy and living the life of the trenches, clean 

 clothes and hot baths are luxuries to be dreamt 



