Too Sick For Caring? An Analysis of The Health Impact of The Great War (1914-1918) on The First Cohort of New Zealand Nurses Who Served
Introduction New Zealand led the world as the first country to implement a standardised level of training leading to registration with the Nurses Act of 1901.1 This signalled the beginning of a proud tradition of nursing, attracting women from all walks of life. Following the Boer War, nurse leaders in New Zealand recognised the need […]
Malaria Determined Military Outcomes in Burma (Myanmar) Across Three Centuries
Abstract Disease has often determined the outcome of tropical military campaigns. This is especially true in Burma (Myanmar), where entire armies have been incapacitated by fever thought to be due to malaria during the Sino-Burmese Wars (1765–1769), the Anglo-Burmese Wars (especially the first in 1824–1826) and World War II (1942–1945) when the British 14th Army […]
Experiences of a Prisoner of War: World War 2 In Germany
Re-Print Stephenson Vol 9 No 1 E Stephenson2 On 16 December 1943, I was sitting at the Navigator’s seat in a very noisy Lancaster bomber over Berlin when something occurred that changed the pattern of my life. We had just dropped 13,000 pounds of bombs… a 4,000 pound “cookie” plus incendiaries and we were stooging […]
Measles Mortality in the Armies of the Early 20th Century
G. D Shanks Abstract Measles remained a lethal infection during the early 20th century within the military but mortality disappeared prior to immunisation 50 years later. Historical records were reviewed to understand this transition. Measles mortality in soldiers was largely (>80%) due to secondary bacterial pneumonia but this could be highly seasonal, as seen in […]
A History of Australian Navy Health Sailor Uniforms and Ranks (Part 3)
Commander Neil Westphalen, Royal Australian Navy Reserve Purpose More than a century after its establishment, many Royal Australian Navy (RAN) uniforms and ranks continue to reflect those used by the (British) Royal Navy (RN). The first of this three-part article described the history of Navy sailor uniforms since 1509,[i] while the second examined the development […]
A History of Australian Navy Health Sailor Uniforms and Ranks (Part 2)
A History of Australian Navy Health Sailor Uniforms and Ranks (Part 2) Commander Neil Westphalen, Royal Australian Navy Reserve Purpose More than a century after its establishment, many Royal Australian Navy (RAN) uniforms and ranks still reflect those used by the (British) Royal Navy (RN).The first of this three-part article described the history of Navy […]
Gulf War Illness in the 1991 Gulf War and Gulf Era Veteran Population: An Application of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kansas Case Definitions to Historical Data
E Dursa, S Barth, B Porter, A Schneiderman Introduction In the initial years following the 1990–1991 Gulf War, reports of a complex array of medically unexplained symptoms began to emerge among US Gulf War veterans.1,2 This cluster of symptoms, which included fatigue, pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, respiratory symptoms, dermatological symptoms, neurological symptoms and cognitive symptoms,3-9 collectively […]
A History of Australian Navy Health Sailor Uniforms and Ranks (Part 1)
Commander Neil Westphalen, Royal Australian Navy Reserve Purpose Mariners have been identifiable by their clothing for centuries. This reflects their ongoing need for attire that allows free movement for negotiating ladders, doorways and hatches, and performing physically demanding tasks such as hauling lines on cluttered decks and moving heavy weights. In the past, their garments […]
‘A near-run thing’: The foundation and early years of 1 Malaria Research Laboratory, forerunner of the Australian Army Malaria Institute, 1963–1969 (Part 4 of ‘Pioneers of Australian military malariology’)
Ian Howie-Willis Abstract During the 25 years following World War II, malaria re-emerged as a major threat to Australian military personnel deployed to malarious regions in South-East Asia. By 1952, malariologists in Britain knew that drug-resistant strains of the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax had emerged in Malaya.[i] Successive contingents of Australian soldiers […]