'Cooties' was the nickname American soldiers gave to body lice – the itchy little bugs that burrowed into skin, hair, clothing, blankets and just about anything made of natural materials.
Soldiers had a name for lice, “cooties,” and external treatments were called “cootie oils.” As with typhus on the Eastern Front - a rickettsial disease that killed soldiers - control of lice was the key to managing the epidemic of Trench Fever.
Fortunately for the lice population, if not for their hosts, conditions of trench warfare proved ideal for their rapid spread. Of the three types of lice - head, pubic and body - the latter was far and away the most common. Lice could only thrive in warm conditions - which was provided by body heat and clothing.
Lice were a constant problem for soldiers living in the cramped and crowded conditions of the trenches. These tiny insects infested clothing, irritated skin and caused 'trench fever' and typhus.
'Cooties' was the nickname American soldiers gave to body lice – the itchy little bugs that burrowed into skin, hair, clothing, blankets and just about anything made of natural materials.
Louse-borne typhus fever was a familiar by-product of wartime troop and refugee movements, crowding in camps and prisons, undernourishment, and lack of bathing and laundry facilities. Although the causative microbe and its vector had been discovered, efficient methods of preventing typhus fever had not.
Lice Infestation
The unsanitary conditions at Gallipoli soon led to a widespread infestation of body lice amongst the men. Men scratching at their louse-ridden skin and inspecting the seams of their uniforms for the parasites became a familiar sight.
However, louse-borne typhus killed 2–3 million soldiers and civilians on the Eastern Front, and the war's end in November 1918 was hastened by an influenza pandemic that had begun in January 1918 and eventually claimed the lives of an estimated 50 million.
Throughout ancient Egypt, people were tormented with lice. Remedies for the common person included eating a special meal mixture with warm water, and then vomiting it up. Others believed a recipe of spices mixed with vinegar rubbed on the scalp over a few days would suffocate them out.
The lice were the size of grains of rice, each with its own bite, each with its own itch. When we could, we would run hot wax from a candle down the seams of our trousers, our vests - whatever you had - to burn the buggers out. It was the only thing to do.
The soldier fired into No Man's Land, the area between the enemy trenches. Soldiers were ordered to keep firing even if they did not see anything. This was called the “morning hate.” The constant fire would keep the enemy from sneaking up on the trench.
'46 The Army also established divisional baths to turn lice-ridden men into clean soldiers, with the aim being to wash every man at least once every 2 weeks.
Ancient Head Lice Treatments
If you became infested with head lice, the Egyptians treated themselves with an aromatic head lice formula made of water, vinegar, oil of cinnamon, oil of rosemary, oil of terebinth. They would treat ancient head lice with the formula and use a fine tooth comb.
In the middle ages, humans couldn't get away from lice. They were an unavoidable part of their life and lice didn't discriminate; they infected all parts of society from serfs to royals. People in the Middle Ages took lice to their grave as well. They lived a life of itch, itch, itch!
2. Blond hair was the colour of choice in Viking culture, so they would use strong soap to bleach their hair and beards blond. This also had the added benefit of eliminating head lice!
By far, artillery was the biggest killer in World War I, and provided the greatest source of war wounded.
Most of the casualties during WWI are due to war related famine and disease. Civilian deaths due to the Spanish flu have been excluded from these figures, whenever possible.
Epidemics of typhus, malaria, typhoid (the infamous enteric fever), diarrhoea, yellow-fever, pneumonia and influenza, generously amplified by innumerable cases of venereal disease, scabies and the like, routinely wreaked vastly more casualties on these armies than those wrought by the engines of war; be it the bow and ...
Rachel Maroun, 21, from Sydney, Australia, works as a head lice technician and shares clips of her most severe cases online. Her recent clip went viral on TikTok and led to the little girl being taken away by Child Protective Services (CPS).
Three types of lice infest humans: the body louse, Pediculus humanus humanus Linnaeus, also known as Pediculus humanus corporis; the head louse Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer; and the crab louse (or pubic louse), Pthirus pubis (Linnaeus).
Classic trench fever is caused by Bartonella quintana, which is carried predominately by a vector body louse. B. quintana reproduces in the intestinal lumen of the louse and then transmits the disease via inoculation of contaminated feces into exposed skin or conjunctivae.
As World War II began, American military were issued not only condoms, but also propaganda promoting their use against sexually transmitted diseases.
For example, cats and dogs were kept by soldiers in the trenches to "help maintain hygiene" by culling the rodent population. Terrier dogs were especially useful, more so than cats, as they were bred to kill vermin and for hunting purposes which was applied to eliminating rats in the trenches.
Full conscription of men
On the day Britain declared war on Germany, 3 September 1939, Parliament immediately passed a more wide-reaching measure. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act imposed conscription on all males aged between 18 and 41 who had to register for service.