This powerful article in the Sunday Times is about soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and their recovery, mostly at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham. The reporter had unprecedented access because his brother was blown up by an IED. The tales of injury and recovery – or not – are moving, and I learned a lot: Shrimp-derived anti-clotting bandages? Shark skin to cover burns? But my attention was obviously drawn to this paragraph:
“Some [soldiers] found that their move onto the ward set them back. Some caught MRSA and were isolated in the ward’s outer rooms. Infections from the dirt blasted into a soldier’s body during an explosion sometimes spread into healthy limbs, resulting in further amputations or more operations. “There have been some fungi that we have struggled to treat,” said Dr Rosser. “It is a process of trial and error. The guys injured in water come back from Afghanistan with different bugs to those injured on land.” Soldiers say the Taliban lace IEDs with bacteria from untreated sewage streams, increasing the chances of infection.”
This is an old tactic of warfare. The Viet Cong used to dip sharpened sticks in human excrement for the same reason. Armies since forever have suffered as much from feces-related infections as from combat. The power of bacteria can be used in lethal and horrible ways. I regret profoundly not having had a chapter in my book about sanitary history and advances in the military; it was a mistake. Meanwhile I wish all wounded soldiers a successful recovery.