By Helen Cone

On Sept. 17 - the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day of war in U.S. history - Dr. George Zuidema addressed the Morning Forum of Los Altos on the subject of “The Changing Face of Medicine in Times of War from the Civil War to 9/11.”

Zuidema has had a distinguished career as a surgeon and professor at the Johns Hopkins and University of Michigan medical schools and hospitals. He combined this lecture with a visit with his sister-in-law, Mary van Tamelen of Los Altos Hills.

When the Civil War began, medical practices were still rather primitive, not very different from how they were during the Revolutionary War. Disease was rampant and killed more soldiers than died in battle. Healthy young farm boys were crowded into unsanitary camps and exposed to many illnesses against which they had no immunity.

At any given time a quarter of the soldiers were incapacitated by illness. Wounds to the head, chest and abdomen were likely to be fatal. Wounds to the extremities were likely to result in amputation as gangrene infected the wound.

Since there was no anesthesia available, the amputations were done very quickly while the patient “bit the bullet” and had whiskey in an attempt to dull the pain.

Medical progress came in the form of a corps of women volunteers during the Civil War who helped clean up the unsanitary conditions in camps and improved the safety of water.

The involvement of women led to the founding of the American Red Cross by Clara Barton. It also raised nursing to a profession.

After the Second Battle of Bull Run, an ambulance service was established to transport the wounded to the nearest hospital.

By World War I anesthetics and disinfectants were available, and there was a medical corps to evacuate the wounded.

During World War II the advent of penicillin helped greatly in healing wounds.

Vascular surgery was developed during the Korean War and later perfected during the Vietnam War.

During the Korean War helicopters were used to quickly evacuate the wounded to field hospitals, allowing immediate treatment and thereby saving lives. In the Civil War 14 percent of the wounded died. In the Vietnam War that number dropped to 2 percent.

In the second part of his speech, Zuidema addressed the challenges we face today. He commended the country’s response on the anniversary of 9/11, feeling that we had shown a degree of acceptance of the changes brought by last year’s terrorist attacks. However, he lamented our vulnerability to possible biological or chemical warfare.

An effort to develop a vaccine against anthrax took from 1988 to 2001 to get FDA approval. Pharmaceutical companies had stopped making vaccines due to the danger of lawsuits if someone had a negative reaction.

Zuidema said we should trust the government in its efforts to prevent terrorists from attacking again.