When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, people knew nothing about infections and what the cause of infections was. The huge amount of wounded soldiers posed a challenge to the naive medical field. A total of 620,000 soldiers died during the Civil War due to fighting, starvation, and disease (Civil War Facts, 2014). For every soldier who died in combat, two others died of disease. The reason was due to unsanitary and dirty conditions, untrained and unprepared medical staff. Medical boards approved unsuitable students due to the demand for help needed to treat wounded soldiers. Most Civil War doctors had only treated colds and sore throats before the war. Many doctors had never treated a gunshot wound or performed surgery until the war. The risk of surgery was enormous, due to the high rates of post-operative infection. Unsanitary hospitals and camps housed wounded soldiers all in the same area, which was a breeding ground for infections and the spread of disease. Soldiers from rural areas were not immune to childhood diseases such as mumps, measles, and chickenpox. This would cause a measles epidemic in a field. The soldiers had to deal with other various diseases such as malaria, camp itch, typhus and dysentery. Malaria, a disease that can cause high fever, was brought to the camps by mosquitoes. Conditions around the camp were damp and dark, making it a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The single biggest killer of soldiers was dysentery. Dysentery is a severe form of diarrhea. According to the Civil War Academy, a total of 95,000 soldiers, 50,000 Confederate and 45,000 Union soldiers died from dysentery (Civil War Diseases, 2014). Typhoid fever, also called “camp fever,” was the focus of the article on/history/faq/medicine of the Civil War. (2014, 02 16). Retrieved from ehistory: http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/medicine/cwsurgeon/introduction.cfmCivil War Medicine and the RCH. (2014, 03 12). Retrieved from Rochester General Health System: http://www.rochestergeneral.org/about-us/rochester-general-hospital/about-us/rochester-medical-museum-and-archives/online-exhibits/civil-war-medicine -and-the-hospital-of-the-city-of-rochester/Medical discourse. (2014, 03 23). Retrieved from the National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/wicr/forteachers/upload/Medical-Tools-for-teachers.pdfMedicine in the Civil War. (2014, 02 16). Retrieved from University of Toledo: http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/quackery/quack8.htmlMinie Ball. (2014, 02 16). Retrieved from the Kentucky Historical Society: http://www.ket.org/artstoolkit/statedivided/gallery/resources/minieball/minieball_more.pdf