Dennis Shanks

Articles by Dennis Shanks


Comparison of Two Co-Located Infantry Battalions during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic with Very Different Mortality Experiences

D Shanks, M Waller Abstract The 1918–1919 influenza pandemic was the greatest mortality event in recent history whose specific origins and mechanism remain largely unexplained. Wide ranges of mortality were observed in otherwise identical groups for unclear reasons. The 49th (n=1363) and 50th (n=1243) Battalions (BN) of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) respectively had one… Read more »

By Dennis Shanks In   Issue Volume 27 No. 1 Doi No https://doi-ds.org/doilink/05.2021-96461851/JMVH Vol 27 No 1

Pacific Island Societies Destabilised by Infectious Diseases

Prof G. Dennis Shanks MD1,2,3 Abstract Infectious diseases de-populated many isolated Pacific islands when they were first exposed to global pathogen circulation from the 18th century. In most cases it is difficult to reconstruct mortality risk factors as few literate observers were present when the first epidemics arrived with lethality dropping rapidly during subsequent epidemics…. Read more »

By Dennis Shanks In   Issue Volume 24 No. 4 Doi No https://doi-ds.org/doilink/05.2021-42762487/JMVH Vol 24 No 4

Formation of Medical Units in Response to Epidemics in the Australian Imperial Force in Palestine 1918

Summary: In the closing days of the First World War, British cavalry operations defeated the Turkish Armies in Palestine. Australian Light Horse Regiments as part of the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) were prominent in the capture of Amman, Beirut and Damascus. Epidemic infectious diseases were part of the severe desert environment faced by soldiers in the Middle East. Cholera and dysentery epidemics required reformation of medical units to emphasize mobility in an austere environment. A large epidemic of falciparum malaria coinciding with pandemic influenza shut down military operations and caused many deaths in late 1918. Three separate military medical units were formed in Egypt to address epidemic infectious diseases during mobile operations in the desert: ANZAC Field Laboratory, 5th Malaria Diagnosis Station and 7th Mobile Sanitary Section. Laboratory and preventive medicine units were critical to the military’s ability to conduct operations in the Middle East in 1918 and are likely to become vital for future missions in developing countries. As was the case in 1918, military medical units may have to be acutely restructured to control infectious disease outbreaks.

Key words: Great War, malaria, influenza, military medicine

By Dennis Shanks In   Issue Volume 22 No. 2 Doi No https://doi-ds.org/doilink/11.2021-74679293/JMVH Vol 22 No 2

The ability of seasonal and pandemic influenza to disrupt military operations

Abstract Influenza is one of the few infectious diseases that is able to disrupt military operations quickly.  Although the extreme mortality rates seen during the pandemic of 1918-19 when tens of thousands of soldiers died has never been repeated (for as yet unclear reasons), illness rates alone make influenza of great military importance.  Seasonal influenza… Read more »

By Jon Hodge and Dennis Shanks In   Issue Volume 19 No. 4 Doi No https://doi-ds.org/doilink/11.2021-32766831/JMVH Vol 19 No 4