Existing comment:
100 Years Ago: October - November 1918
Battle on Two Fronts:
In late 1918, military and civilian medical professionals were fighting a war on two fronts. As physicians, surgeons and nurses mended grievous injuries suffered in the final battles of World War I, they were suddenly faced with a worldwide influenza pandemic, and its corollary infections such as pneumonia. Civilian populations, many devastated by years of rationing and sickness, were in no shape to fight the new disease.
Hospitals were inundated with both sick and wounded, filling wards with hundreds of thousands of patients. In correspondence to loved ones, doctors and nurses detailed life in these trying times, at home and abroad. Meanwhile, photographers and medical illustrators captured the price of these struggles. Photographs depicted doctors, nurses, and wards full of patients, while medical illustrations showed the bodily effects of war and disease. |