SICKNESS OF SOLDIERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16157, 19 February 1916, Page 4

SICKNESS OF SOLDIERS.

.o> — CASES AT FEATHERSTON. - DIAGNOSED AS GASTRITIS. 1J ABATEMENT OF EPIDEMIC. RUMOURS AND THEORIES. Br L. S. FAXXIXG. Heat colic, summer colic, summer sick- ! ness, English cholera, gastro-enteritis 1 gastric fever, abdominal influenza, and diarrhoea, are some of the names enrren* at Featherston camp for an epidemic j which is passing away with the " do» idays." The theories of the cause are as I numerous as the names. However, the | many men who were smitten had tho | same symptoms, and thev are satisfied that they had the same trouble, which is officially entered as gastritis. In the milder cases a patient may escape with about a day c: internal disturbance and spasmodic pain.?, but others have vomiting in addition it the discomfort that accompanies diarrhuea. The patient feels limp and depressed, but happily the affliction is not usually a lone stayer. The men who are hit hard enough to need treatment, in hospital are onlv a small proportion of those who parade sick with this comnlaint. The remedy is the customary one for this transitory disease, ; which is not a mystery. The patient has a ! rest from food for some hours, and then i he builds up on milk puddings and other I suitable food. Rumour alleged in Wellington on Tuesday afternoon that 10 men had died at | Featherston camp. Officers out there 'laughed heartily when this canard was j mentioned. The only death known io the authorities is that of a soldier who did not survive an operation for ap- | pendicitis in the Greytown Hospital, and jit is believed that this disease was not ' ! contracted in camp. This is the only I death recorded during the whole ran jf j the Tauherenikau and Featherston camps ! a period of seven months. Further Rumours. On Tuesday afternoon men at Trentham were saying they had heard that onlv six or eight hundred men at Featherston "were t able to turn out for work. Inquiry proved | that this rumour was as weird and wild as ; the other. The full strength of the camp !on Wednesday was 6668, and the sick j parade total* was 173. The maximum official figure for a sick parade is 440. but j it is probable that at one time, when the j epidemic was at its worst, the men suffer- ! inn, in various degrees, from gastritis were considerably above that number, for not ! all of those who had a touch of the j ailment reported themselves sick. They had a day or so of "seediness," and then ! swung back to normal health. Others who 1 tried to avoid reporting the first warning pains suffered for the attempt to carry on as usual: it was a difference in phvsique. The gastritis has not been a respecter of ranks. Numbers of officers, including the commandant and adjutant, have been attacked. The impression among the outside public that something was seriously wrong at eatherston has been due probablv to two causes:—(l) Soldiers' letters from the camp; (2) a belief that the facts were not wholly disclosed in the first official statements issued from Wellington. When the writer paid a surprise visit to Featherston on Wednesday he found no conspiracy of silence or evasiveness, no attempt to hide or disguise the truth. The visitor just missed the commandant. Colonel Adams, ■ "but met the adjutant, Captain Neville Newcomb, who promptly invited questions, and offered the freedom of the camp, includin • the hospital, with its records of cases. Water, flies, ordinal.- beer, herbal beer, straight-out heat, and tomatoes have been blamed by laymen for the* outbreak of gastritis, but none of these have been proved guilty. Hopeful Medical View. Frankly, the medical opinion at the camp is that the gastritis cannot be satisfactorily explained by the conditions there. First of all, it is practically the same locality as Tauherenikau, where the standard of health was very good. Indeed, the Featherston ground is "even better -than the other, for the new camp is at the highest part of the plain : the ground slopes away slightly on both flanks. Then there is the elaborate sanitary equipment of a permanent camp. It is open country, with no lack of ventilation. Moreover, the medical officers refer to the appearance of the same ailment in the towns of Featherston, Carterton, Greytown, Gisborne, Napier, and others. One doctor of Greytown said recently that three-quarters of his practice at that time was in the treatment of gastric cases, similar to those in the camp. The disease is said to be identical with the one which raids citi* of the Old Country during the hottest part of the summer. The latest intelligence conveys the comforting truth that the epidemic has much abated the sick parades have declined by about half of the recent numbers. An improvement was noticed last week with the arrival of two or three comparatively cool days, and the medical staff is confident, that as the sun loses his sting the gastritis will vanish. The Records of Sickness. Here, briefly, is a summary of the camp's state, as reported officially on Wednesday : —Total strength, 6668 ; paraded sick," 173; sick in lines, 207 ; in Hospital, 75. A man may "parade sick" on very little provocation, if he fears that a slight " seediness" is something to be caught in time, and it is not very hard to have a case of " seediness" when the sun has been aggressive and oppressive on the parade-ground; this remark applies particularly to those men to whom the vigorous camp training, under a searching, scorching sun, is a complete " social revolution." The term "sick in lines" covers the men who are not ill enough to be sent to hospital; they are able to lounge about in their huts and stroll about at their —having the rest cure. The 75 hospital cases included only 25 of gastritis, and the whole miscellaneous group of 75 included only 26 bed cases. On Wednesday the hospital was more notable far empty beds than for occupied ones. The octagonal building can take about 150 cases, but the accommodation has -not been taxed at any stage of the gastric trouble. Usually a, stay of three or four days in hospital is enough for one of these "patients, but, of course, the great majority do not need this course. Admissions to Hospital The following list of gastritis admissions to hospital is an effective answer to alarmist rumours :February 4th 11 : sth, 0; 6th, 5: 7th, 9; Bth". 4; 9th. 9: 10th, 12; 11th. 7: 12th, 2; 13th. 6: 14th. 1; 15th. 4. The men who are regaining their strength in the lines have light diet! including milk puddings, cooked by a special staff. All along, the working line of Featherston camp has been "Business as usual." The visitation of "summer sickness" has not upset the programme of work. The members of the medical staff sav. in effect, that they have not been baffled nor mvstified. nor staggered bv the advent of gastritis; the usual treatment for this trouble was proved to be right. The writer did not see any signs* of scare" at the camp, which was working according to syllabus. He spoke to privates, non-commissioned officer" and officers, as well as to civilians in the town of featherston, and the net result of the investigation is a belief that the friends and relatives of soldiers have no cause to fear Featherston camp.