Resurgence ofโค WWI-Era “gas Gangrene” Threatens Ukrainian Soldiers Due to Drone-Hindered evacuations
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine – Russianโ drone attacks are severely hampering medical evacuations in โฃUkraine, leading โto a dangerous rise inโ cases of gas gangrene – a rare and often fatal infectious disease not widely seenโ since World War I, according to reports from โUkrainian medics and a volunteerโข paramedic working โฃnear teh frontโ lines.
The โ Telegraph newspaper reports that the delays in getting โwounded soldiers to proper medical facilities are โcreating conditions ripe for the โฃprogress โคof thisโค tissue-destroying infection, typically caused by bacteria entering deep wounds. โGas gangrene was a โคnotable killer of โฃwounded โฃsoldiers during theโ First World War, before the adventโฃ of widespread antibiotic use.
A foreign volunteer medic in the Zaporizhzhiaโค region โdescribed the situation as โunprecedented.โข “Such delays in evacuation have โnever occurred inโ the last 50 โyears – probably not as the Second World War, perhaps even longer. And weโ are seeing clinical pictures that we have never seen before,” the medic told the Telegraph.
The paramedic detailed instances of injuredโค soldiers being kept alive “as best โas possible” underground โคfor weeks due to the inability to transport them quickly to hospitals. Even with treatment in aโ clinical setting, recovery from gas gangrene โis not guaranteed, and without intervention, the risk of fatality is nearly 100 percent, according to a lecturer atโ King’s College London cited in the report.
While โthe risk of โขdeath from infection was reduced during Worldโฃ War II with the introduction of antibiotics, the Telegraph reports that antibioticโฃ resistance is โnow โขcomplicating treatment efforts. Furthermore, the makeshift medical facilities established in โcellars โขand bunkers lack the necessary sterile conditions โฃand resources to effectively combat โขthe infection. These facilities are currently focused on “damage control operations” – addressing immediate, life-threatening injuries within the first 24 to 48 hours.
“We’reโ seeing more and more people with injuries that should be survivable – for โexample amputations or cases were someone just needs a blood โฃtransfusion โค- dying on the spot,” the paramedic lamented. “so many of them can’t be evacuated in time and โjust don’t โmake it.”
The โขresurgence of this historically devastatingโข illness underscores the critical impact of Russia’s drone warfare on the abilityโฃ to provideโฃ timely medical care to Ukrainian soldiers.
source: ntv.de, Theโ Telegraph
