Venereal disease in the Ottoman Army

[Peter H]

T.E.Lawrence:

http://telawrence.net/telawrencenet/wor ... 00_006.htm

Medical examination of some batches of Turkish prisoners found nearly half of them with unnaturally acquired venereal disease. Pox and its like were not understood in the country; and the infection ran from one to another through the battalion, where the conscripts served for six or seven years, till at the end of their period the survivors, if they came from decent homes, were ashamed to return, and drifted either into the gendarmerie service, or, as broken men, into casual labour about the towns; and so the birth-rate fell. The Turkish peasantry in Anatolia were dying of their military service.

Any truth in this?

[infantry]

The official statistics of Ottoman Military Medical Command are giving a completely different picture. After examining them closely you get the impression that standard contegious diseases were more problematic in the eyes of doctors than veneral ones.

I guess Lawrance got this impression during his stay in today's Southeastern Anatolia and Northern Syria when he was digging the historical sites. I do not recall it correctly but there must be some bits and pieces about this issue in his memoirs.

[Peter H]

Thanks!

This link suggests remedial action was taken earlier than 1900:

http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/537/Aksakal.html

Syphilis was another disease that commanded the attention of Ottoman administrators, who were distressed at its prevalence, particularly among members of the armed forces. An 1879 regulation enacted mandatory health examinations of prostitutes, who were thought to be the source of the syphilis problem. The military connection is well illustrated by the response of the German General Colmar von der Goltz, who came to the Ottoman Empire as a military advisor in 1883 and was later given the title Pasha for his services. Upon learning of the prevalence of syphilis among cadets in the Ottoman military, he insisted that measures be taken. A German physician, Ernst von Düring, was brought to the Ottoman Empire to supervise an anti-syphilis program. Düring spent over a decade (1889-1902) training medical providers in Istanbul and throughout Anatolia on the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis.