Former Homeless Man in Canada, Diagnosed with WW1 Trench Fever

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are left isolated and hanging inside their house. Some people experience anxiety and depression because they can't do what they do when a pandemic is not yet starting. Besides, the long wait for the vaccine also impacted different aspects of living.

Despite the focus of the medical experts on COVID-19, various diseases were out of the news. But recently, a disease that originated from World War 1 (WW1) that affected the soldiers on the battlefield is seen in a formerly homeless man in Canada. Also called Trench Fever, The Guardian reports that the situation triggers citizens' calls to improve vulnerable people's conditions.

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What is Trench Fever?

(Photo: mohamed_hassan)
Febrile illness or rapid onset of fever is a symptom of Trench fever.

In a report made by News Deal, the news agency described the disease as common and affected more than a million troops during the first world war, the year 1914-1918. A 2006 paper published in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) described the character of the disease experienced by a certain patient mentioned in the paper: frontal headache, severe lumbago, dizziness, and stiffness in front of the thighs, and severe pains in the legs.

Professor of Medicine Emeritus and the History of Medicine from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Frederick Holmes, MD, MA, stresses in an article by the university that physicians during the first world war were able to notice acute febrile illness in soldiers alongside headache, dizziness, peculiar pain and stiffness in the legs, and backache.

According to Medicine Net, the cause of trench fever is Bartonella Quintana, unusual rickettsia that multiples in the gut of the body louse. A book authored by David H. Walker, published in NCBI, notes that rickettsiae are a diverse pathogen of obligately intracellular Gram-negative bacteria present in chiggers, ticks, lice, mammals, and fleas. Medicine Net also mentioned in their article that transmission of the bacteria could happen through rubbing infected louse feces into wounded skin or in the whites of the eyes.

The Situation

In their article, The Guardian added that they had found trench fever causing bacteria and related heart problems in a formerly homeless man in Winnipeg. Three other cases are noted among similarly vulnerable men in the city over six months in the present year. News Deal also reports that one man was left with paralysis and speech difficulties subsequently in the infection that led to bleed in the brain.

In an interview with The Guardian, a chief medical resident from the University of Manitoba, Dr. Carl Boodman, says that the condition is probably under-diagnosed. The study highlighted the need to do more in helping the most vulnerable in society. He added in his interview that trench fever is a disease of wartime conditions, and it is something that many industrialized societies still struggle with. Moreover, He stresses that Trench Fever reflects that individuals live in conditions they should not tolerate.

Check out more news and information on Trench Fever on MD News Daily.