fncceo
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- Nov 29, 2016
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The military hospitals famously didn't understand infection during the Civil Warit's unlikely the American cavalry would do that since the germ-theory of disease hadn't been invented yet
Actually, the Germ Theory and Pasteur's work on it was widely known and accepted by the early 1860's. Edward Jenner was inoculating people for Smallpox in the late 1700's.
The Indian Wars, including the infamous infected blanket incident, continued well into the late 1800's.
The mechanics of infection were well understood at the time of the civil war. That is why there were so many amputations. They knew that removing gangrenous and infected flesh was essential to preventing further infection. In the civil war, they knew that boiling bandages before reusing them cut down on infections.
The practice of removing bullets from a wound began centuries ago. Not because a bullet lodged in body presented a risk (it is an inert object) but because any dirty clothing that entered the wound with the bullet would lead to infection. Cleaning the gunshot wound was the primary means of treatment after stopping the bleeding.
What wasn't well understood, until later, was the pharmaceutical methods of fighting infection.