1. Public Health and Military Medicine Military Surgeons and Physicians
THE CONTRIBUTION OF MILITARY MEDICINE TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Capt Aristidis DIAMANTIS, MD, PhD, HN 1 , Capt Dimitrios GIANNOGLOU, MD, MC2,
1 Office for the Study of History of Hellenic Naval Medicine, Naval Hospital of Athens
2 32 Marine Corps Brigade, Volos
Introduction
Public Health is nowadays an important branch of medical science, aiming to the prevention of diseases and the promotion of health, in benefit of the society. Its primary goal was to fight the spread of diseases and to protect the European and world population, including the colonists and the colonies.
Malaria
Beri-Beri disease
Principal Medical Officer, 1st class
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran
( )
French Military Doctor
Professor of Military Hygiene at the École de Val-de-Grâce.
Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1907
He discovered the causes for Trypanosomiasis (Trypanosoma) and Malaria (Clostridium).
Sir Ronald Ross
( )
British Medical Officer
Indian Medical Service
He discovered the malarial parasite in a mosquito, which led to the conclusion that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes.
Surgeon-General
Jeffery Allen Marston
British Military Surgeon
( )
He gave the first description of brucellosis as a distinct disease. He described his own case for brucellosis, in great detail.
Major-General
Sir David Bruce
( )
Scottish Military Surgeon
Pathologist and Microbiologist
 He identified the causative protozoa, and tsetse fly as the vector of African trypanosomiasis. Trypanosoma Brucei was named after him. He discovered Micrococcus melitensis, as well. Brucella was also named after him.
Lieut.-Colonel
William Byam
( )
He worked on Trench Fever, a major cause of illness among the soldiers in WWI.
Eminent philatelist in his free time.
Major
Richard Pearson Strong
US Army Medical Reserve
( )
Tropical Medicine Professor in Harvard. He did research in bubonic plague, cholera, typhus, trench fever and bacillary dysentery. A variety of parasitological topics also retained his attention.
Christiaan Eijkman
Netherlands Army Surgeon
( )
Professor of Physiology,
Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1929.
His research on Beri-Beri disease was crucial for the discovery of Vitamins. He also had an interest on bacteriology and he participated in campaigns against alcoholism and tuberculosis.
Public Health and Military Medicine
Even though the progress of Public Health has become
rapid in the last two centuries, it is not widely known that a great part of this progress is due to the contribution of Military Medicine. The search for etiology, the study of epidemiology and the determination of prevention and cure of serious and life-threatening diseases has been made possible thanks to the research of distinguished military doctors.
Military Surgeons and Physicians
Kala-Azar (Leishmaniasis)
Treatment of scurvy
John Woodall
( )
British Navy Surgeon
He wrote “The Surgeon’s Mate”, a
handbook for medical treatments in
the ship. He did research on the
scurvy and underlined the
importance of eating fresh fruit in
order to avoid it. John Woodall was
also chemist, businessman, linguist
and diplomat
JAMES LIND
( )
Scottish Navy Surgeon
A pioneer of hygiene and preventive
medicine, he performed the first
clinical trial, which proved the
importance of oranges and lemons
against scurvy. He also worked for
the prevention of typhus.
Sir Almroth
Edward Wright
( )
British Immunologist and
Bacteriologist. Professor of the
Royal Army Medical College.
Although not a military doctor, he
worked with the british armed
forces to develop vaccines and
Promote immunisation. Supporter
of preventive medicine, he is best
known for developing a system of
anti-typhoid fever inoculation.
Lieutenant General
Sir William Boog Leishman
( )
Scottish Medical Officer
British Army
Pathologist and Bacteriologist, Assistant Professor of Pathology in the Army Medical School.
He did research on enteric fever, african tick fever and Kala-azar. He described a method of staining blood for malaria and other parasites, known as “Leishman’s stain”.
With Almroth Wright, he helped develop an anti-typhoid inoculation.
Brucellosis (Malta Fever)
Lieutenant Colonel
Charles Donovan
( )
Irish Medical Officer
British Army,
Indian Medical service
Professor at Madras Medical College.
He discovered the causative agents for Visceral Leishmaniasis (Leishmania Donovani) and Donovanosis or Granuloma Inguinale (Klebsiella Granulomatis). .
Typhoid vaccine
Bubonic Plague
Paul-Louis Simond
French NAVY
Chief Medical Officer
( )
Corresponding member of the French Academy of Medicine and the French Society of Biology. His greatest discovery was the role of the rat flea in the transmission of bubonic plague. He did research about Leprosy and participated in small-pox vaccination campaigns.
Trench Fever
Brigadier General
Frederick Russell
( )
US military doctor
Professor of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in Harvard Medical School. He perfected a typhoid vaccine in Thanks to his vaccination program, from 173 death cases in 1910, in 1912 there was only one death reported.
Conclusions
As history shows, Military Medicine has contributed extensively to the development of Public Health, mainly because of its possibility to apply in practice the methodology of prevention and cure of various diseases and epidemics. Military doctors from various countries proved themselves to be pioneering scientists and researchers and, through their service, helped to achieve a healthier world in peacetime.