Disease question

And Silver Nitrate - which by the way, results in side effects of violent stomach pain and---yep, you guessed it--diarrhea. There was a thread a while back that includes a surgeon's report of treatment using laudanum and silver nitrate via "retained enema." Now if that doesn't sound unpleasant, I don't know what does. Should have qualified him for the MOH. https://civilwartalk.com/threads/diarrhea-treated-with-silver-nitrate.134258/#post-1533933
They also used something called blue mass which was mercury, honey and some plant base I can't recall. It also caused what it was trying to cure.
 
From what I could gather many cases of chronic diarrhea were felt to be related to a nutritional deficiency.

The following article starting page 137 last paragraph talks about it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376709/pdf/tacca00085-0198.pdf

I've pulled out some of the pertinent text.

"During the Civil War physicians noted that deaths from scurvy were usually related to diarrhea, and it is striking that numerous reports from physicians in all regions stated that chronic diarrhea failed to respond to any form of treatment except fresh vegetables. They noted that they expected vegetables to aggravate the diarrhea, and were quite surprised at the beneficial effect. Comparing the incidence of nutritional deficiency syndromes and chronic diarrhea, some relationship is suggested;"
(Scurvy is a disease caused by Vitamin C deficiency.)

___________________________________________

(In reference to Sherman's March to the Sea)

"Men on both sides foraged whenever possible. Although it was officially discouraged most of the time, foraging was the main source of vegetables for most troops, and chronic diarrhea and scurvy were most common when foraging was not possible. The medical problems in prison camps illustrates this phenomenon; as in other situations in which men could not forage, scurvy and chronic diarrhea were ubiquitous, and chronic diarrhea was the main cause of death in the prisons, northern and southern, with scurvy the second most common cause of death (1, 9). Together, they accounted for over 80% of the deaths in Andersonville prison (1, 9). Chronic diarrhea caused more deaths in the entire Union than any other disease-overall, only slightly fewer than gunshot wounds.

The association of scurvy and diarrhea and the response of both to treatment with a diet rich in vegetables, suggests a nutritional component to at least some of the cases of chronic diarrhea. Folic acid is in mostly the same foods as vitamin C; it has similar water solubility and heat liability. The "megaloblastic anemia of scurvy" was shown to be due to concomitant folate deficiency (10). In this century, we know that nutritional deficiencies usually involve more than one micronutrient, especially those associated with vegetables. I think that a nutritional component contributed to the etiology of chronic diarrhea at least in some cases, perhaps in association with enteric infection(s). Such a combination is analogous to tropical sprue as we know it, a process which seems to have a microbial etiologic component, but often responds to treatment with folate. Nutritional deficiency may condition susceptibility to the infectious component."

_________________________________________________

"Civil War physician, Joseph Woodward on chronic diarrhea: "Originating chiefly among troops in camps, the disease evidently stands in some definite relationship to the usual conditions of camp life. Of these, it would appear most intimately connected with the diet, and this relationship is of such a kind that chronic diarrhea becomes more and more common and fatal as the constitutional manifestations which result from camp diet approach more and more to the condition of recognizable scurvy, a most important point to be considered in connection with the hygienic treatment of this disease. As a consequence it has more than once happened on a grand scale, during the present war, to see a sudden and palpable diminution in the amount of diarrhea follow the liberal issue of potatoes and onions to an army in which the tendency to scurvy was exhibiting itself ... (11)."
 
From what I could gather many cases of chronic diarrhea were felt to be related to a nutritional deficiency.

The following article starting page 137 last paragraph talks about it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376709/pdf/tacca00085-0198.pdf

I've pulled out some of the pertinent text.

"During the Civil War physicians noted that deaths from scurvy were usually related to diarrhea, and it is striking that numerous reports from physicians in all regions stated that chronic diarrhea failed to respond to any form of treatment except fresh vegetables. They noted that they expected vegetables to aggravate the diarrhea, and were quite surprised at the beneficial effect. Comparing the incidence of nutritional deficiency syndromes and chronic diarrhea, some relationship is suggested;"
(Scurvy is a disease caused by Vitamin C deficiency.)

___________________________________________

(In reference to Sherman's March to the Sea)

"Men on both sides foraged whenever possible. Although it was officially discouraged most of the time, foraging was the main source of vegetables for most troops, and chronic diarrhea and scurvy were most common when foraging was not possible. The medical problems in prison camps illustrates this phenomenon; as in other situations in which men could not forage, scurvy and chronic diarrhea were ubiquitous, and chronic diarrhea was the main cause of death in the prisons, northern and southern, with scurvy the second most common cause of death (1, 9). Together, they accounted for over 80% of the deaths in Andersonville prison (1, 9). Chronic diarrhea caused more deaths in the entire Union than any other disease-overall, only slightly fewer than gunshot wounds.

The association of scurvy and diarrhea and the response of both to treatment with a diet rich in vegetables, suggests a nutritional component to at least some of the cases of chronic diarrhea. Folic acid is in mostly the same foods as vitamin C; it has similar water solubility and heat liability. The "megaloblastic anemia of scurvy" was shown to be due to concomitant folate deficiency (10). In this century, we know that nutritional deficiencies usually involve more than one micronutrient, especially those associated with vegetables. I think that a nutritional component contributed to the etiology of chronic diarrhea at least in some cases, perhaps in association with enteric infection(s). Such a combination is analogous to tropical sprue as we know it, a process which seems to have a microbial etiologic component, but often responds to treatment with folate. Nutritional deficiency may condition susceptibility to the infectious component."

_________________________________________________

"Civil War physician, Joseph Woodward on chronic diarrhea: "Originating chiefly among troops in camps, the disease evidently stands in some definite relationship to the usual conditions of camp life. Of these, it would appear most intimately connected with the diet, and this relationship is of such a kind that chronic diarrhea becomes more and more common and fatal as the conutional manifestations which result from camp diet approach more and more to the condition of recognizable scurvy, a most important point to be considered in connection with the hygienic treatment of this disease. As a consequence it has more than once happened on a grand scale, during the present war, to see a sudden and palpable diminution in the amount of diarrhea follow the liberal issue of potatoes and onions to an army in which the tendency to scurvy was exhibiting itself ... (11)."
I knew diarrhea was probally the most common sign of dysentery, but thought it was strange in newspaper they were distinguishing between the two as if separate.
 
I knew diarrhea was probally the most common sign of dysentery, but thought it was strange in newspaper they were distinguishing between the two as if separate.

It looks like even back then they were able to recognize the acute , febrile, bloody diarrhea illnesses of dysentery was a separate entity from those who suffered from chronic diarrhea. The part that I wasn't aware of is the number of people who died as result of chronic diarrhea.

Today we know why people got dysentery. The cause of chronic diarrhea seems not as certain.

It seems like the sense was that much of chronic diarrhea was caused by nutritional deficiencies. The evidence seems more anecdotal for that though.
 
It hit a few of my ancestors as well. September 29, 1862 saw my Great Grandfather John report to the Regimental Doctor who diagnosed him with suffering from Diarrhea. At the time they were in the defense of Washington. He ended up in the hospital in Baltimore. An early discharge was received January 30, 1863, by order of Major General Schenck, due to disability. A Great Grand Uncle died of diarrhea in Salisburg Prison and his cousin died of it in Yorktown VA. I have a couple others who's discharges just say disability so not sure what they had, However John's discharge said disability as well. I found the rest in a Regimental History or would not have know what we do about him.
 
Muskets and Medicine: Or, Army Life in the Sixties
Book by Charles Beneulyn Johnson

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When talking about the soldiers taking this condition home with them, one does think of bacteria and critters in the gut. Many people had grown up drinking contaminated water - their bodies learned to live with the bugs in their guts. But something like an injury or hard living conditions or another illness might stir up these things that were already there. This is something being considered in the death of Stonewall Jackson. He grew up in an area known to have buggy water - nobody was sick from it much because they were 'used' to it. But, with the shock of losing an arm and being generally weakened, it's possible the bugs resident in Jackson's body took off and helped kill him. Gen Forrest's cause of death was listed as 'chronic diarrhea' which was likely the result of diabetic nerve damage - however, he too grew up around poor water, losing most of his siblings from water borne disease. His troopers had major problems with diarrhea, and when his surgeon Dr Cowan figured out a way to get them over it quickly, he promoted the doctor to major on the field. Camping around water sources unfamiliar to one might not mean good water - who knew if a dead cow was laying in it upstream!
 
Not being a physician I am on shaky ground opining here but my GGGrandfather died of Cholera on Hart Island. Cholera is a diarrheal disease with very similar symptoms to Dysentery if not the same.
Regards
David

Cholera is a disease caused by the toxogenic bacteria Vibrio cholerae. Symptoms can be severe causing profuse amounts of watery diarrhea (in contrast to the bloody diarrhea of dysentery) as well vomiting and leg cramps. Large amounts of fluid can be lost rapidly resulting in shock and death.
 
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