"Effects"

[ole]

Shane, my medical background is much like yours, but I need to post something to see if things are working on my end or not. It is my understanding that at the time, any lung congestion was called consumption. Many of those who died in the hospitals died of pneumonia brought on by their weakened condition, poor nutrition, and really lousy sanitation. Ole (shrug emoticon)

[blue_zouave]

Some surgeons knew a lot more than others did. A lot of Civil War surgeons never went to medical school. They were trained the old-fashioned way, apprenticed to a doctor who might or might not have any schooling. Needless to say, these fellows were not the best of diagnosticians.

The actual cause of pulmonary tuberculosis, the tuberculosis bacillus, was not known until the 1920s IIRC. Certainly was not known in the 1860s. Pulmonary TB was diagnosed by an array of symptoms including low grade fever, wasting, and chronic cough with bloody sputum. Pneumonia usually presented with a high fever, acute productive cough, and decreased breath sounds... for those who had the primitive stethoscope of the time. If the patient was too sick to eat, and wasting away, it looked like consumption. There's probably where the wounded soldier dying of consumption came in.

I could go on and on but I won't. The 19th century doctor didn't have the knowledge or tools that we have today, but the great majority of them did what they could with what they had.

Hospital Steward Zou

[johan_steele]

THanks for the clarification and explanation... greatly appreciated.