The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt / An Illustrated and Detailed Account of the Early Organisation and Work of the Australian Medical Units in Egypt in 1914-1915

by Sir James W. Barrett; P. E. Deane

Conditions of Recruits on Arrival

Captain Lovegrove, A.A.M.C., was appointed Australian Embarkation Officer at Suez whilst I was in charge. He has contributed the following article to The Australian Medical Journal relative to the work he did during his ten months' stay.

"MEDICAL NOTES ON TROOPS FROM AUSTRALIA
LANDING AT SUEZ
"By Frederick Lovegrove, M.B., Ch.B.(Melb.), Captain A.A.M.C., Australia

"During ten months' tenure of the unique appointment of Australian Embarkation Medical Officer, I have had peculiar opportunities of observing the condition of our soldiers arriving in Egypt.

"The physique of our men has always excited the admiration of the British and Indian officers who have watched them disembark, and if an excess of high spirits in the troops has occasionally given an opportunity for military criticism, from a medical point of view this sign of robust health is altogether satisfactory.

"The time of the voyage to Egypt from Melbourne averages thirty days; but, owing to delays at ports of call, many of the troops spend five weeks or more on board ship. The fact that the death-rate is so low and the condition of the men so good on arrival speaks highly for the arrangements on the ships and the watchful care of the medical officers on transport duty. A few accidents and an occasional case of appendicitis form the bulk of the cases removed to general wards of Suez Hospital.

"Infectious disease, however, has occurred on a large number of vessels, and it has been possible to form some opinion of the epidemics present in the various camps in Australia, by noting the prevalent type of infectious disease on ships from different States.

"(1) Influenza has been far and away the most common complaint. Though some of the patients are still febrile on arrival, and are sent to hospital here, the epidemic is usually spent before Egypt is reached.

"(2) Pneumonia is occasionally severe, and is usually associated with an epidemic of influenza. Twelve months ago a certain percentage of cases developed empyema; for many months now there have been no cases of this kind.

"(3) Measles has been chiefly found among Victorian troops, and has been represented every month. South Australia has sent its quota during April and May. In some cases the epidemic has been wide-spread at first, and has worked itself out before arrival. In other cases a few men have been picked out early and isolated, and no epidemic has occurred. Occasionally a ship has arrived with a large number of cases, evidently originating after embarkation from some unrecognised case on board.

"(4) Mumps has been represented largely every month. This disease is practically a perquisite of New South Wales and Queensland troops. The long incubation period and impossibility of recognising the disease in an early stage makes a general ship infection the rule, and the epidemic is usually at its height when the troops arrive here.

"(5) Cerebro-spinal meningitis has not occurred as an epidemic, but has appeared on the returns every month, with one or two cases. Victoria has contributed the largest number of cases, except in November and January, when New South Wales supplied the largest number. Victoria has had a monopoly for the past four months.

"(6) Enteric fever has been remarkable by its rarity. Ten cases only have been noted; of which New South Wales contributed six, five from one ship; Victoria one in each of the months of September, November, and December; and South Australia one in December. No cases have occurred this year.

"Chicken-pox, scarlet fever, and roetheln have occasioned no trouble here. Small-pox, plague, or cholera have not occurred among troops on Australian transports.

"(7) Venereal disease. While the percentage of troops arriving in Egypt with venereal disease is not high—the actual figure is 0·75 per cent.—the total number of effectives withdrawn from combatant duty owing to this cause is sufficiently large to make the subject one of importance. In ten months 530 men with gonorrhœa and 90 men with syphilis have had to go to hospital immediately on arrival. Soft sores have almost always been cured on the voyage, so that practically all chancres seen here are syphilitic. By far the greatest number of syphilitic cases hail from Queensland and New South Wales, and while gonorrhœa is the main feature of Victorian venereal cases, the two previously mentioned States take the precedence here also. A rise in the numbers from Western Australia has lately been noticed. This may possibly be due to the fact that men from other States found to be suffering from venereal diseases while crossing the Bight are landed in Western Australia. There is a general rise in the proportion of syphilis to gonorrhœa, and this is particularly noticeable among Queensland troops, where the general ratio of one syphilis to six gonorrhœa is now more like one to one, and occasionally the cases of gonorrhœa are outnumbered by syphilis."