War Disease Alexander the Great Disease Kills Armies Napoleon s Russian Campaign The campaign of 1812 was more imperialistic than any of Napoleon s other wars An invasion dictated by the interests of the French upper class The purpose of the war was to subject Russia and thus Poland and Lithuania to economic dependence on France In the summer of 1812 Napoleon had about 750 000 men under arms of whom 450 000 were destined to invade Russia As Napoleon s army marched across Poland the living conditions of the Polish natives stunned the members of the French army They were trekking in medieval world where people live in wretched filthy homes so dirty that the French troops chose to bivouac Colonel Frezensac wrote As soon as one enters Poland one encounters only the image of servitude and misery brutish peasants fields scarcely tilled and for houses miserable huts that are quite as filthy as their inhabitants Both the peasants and their lice were reservoirs for typhus which had long been an endemic disease of Russia and Poland Typhus Name derives from the Greek typhos meaning stupor The casual bacterium Rickettsia prowzeki is spread by lice After six days red eruptions appear on the torso hands feet and face followed by high fever Human mortality is incredibly high under epidemic conditions approaching 100 Napoleon s army ran ahead of its supply line requiring consumption of local food and water Dysentery water borne infectious gastroenteritis also reached epidemic proportions among the soldiers Russian General Kutuzov gave Napoleon a pitched battle at Borodino during September of 1812 The battle losses amounted to 40 000 men on each side and neither side could claim a clear victory A few days after the Borodino battle Napoleon rode through the echoing empty streets and square of Moscow The population had evacuated carrying off all the city s food The following night fires broke out whether by accident or design nobody knows until half the city was in flames Napoleon s marshals were reluctant to march northwards at that time of year to stay in Moscow meant starvation and lurking and treason among the troops The last humiliating alternative had to be taken in the middle of October the Russian winter was starting Napoleon s Grand Army set out to trudge a thousand miles back to France and civilization Ultimately 300 000 French soldiers died in the Russian campaign As many as 220 000 died solely from disease Napoleon s army returned to France with 100 000 of its original 450 000 soldiers The Russian army also suffered dysentery typhus malnutrition and exposure An old Russian saying states the three greatest Russian generals in history defeated both Napoleon and Hitler to save the motherland from occupation The Three Generals Names November December and January Influenza Past Present 1918 Spanish Flu Within 24 months 20 40 million people died 2 of all infected This is more deaths than the cumulative wars of the 20th century Most influenza pandemics generate a U shaped age based mortality curve The 1918 pandemic generated a W shaped mortality curve including healthy young adults Influenza viruses cause disease in all age groups Rates of infection are highest among children Rates of serious illness and death are highest among persons aged 65 years children aged 2 years and persons of any age with chronic medical conditions Complications from influenza infection averaged 36 000 deaths year in the United States during 1990 1999 How are new flu virus strains created Influenza viruses shift exchange their genetic material in multiply infected intermediate animals like pigs allowing new virus strains to infect migratory birds or humans capable of spreading the virus worldwide Overview The armies of Alexander the Great remained healthy despite travelling long distances by carefully boiling all drinking and cooking water Napoleon s invasion of Russia where 75 of his army was lost was characterized by typhus gastroenteritis bad planning and the brutal Russian Winter The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 9 killed 20 40 million people and brought an early end to World War I The 1918 9 influenza killed healthy people in their 20s and 30s as well as the very young and very old Most trains of influenza are deadly for the very young and very old only Influenza viruses manifest pandemic disease every year due to Genetic Shift of their genetic material as a result of multiple host infection humans pigs and chickens