Egyptian barracks overcrowding and uniform shortages caused scabies to spread

Evidence

Having seen the scale of the problems pertaining to the health and hygiene of the soldiers in Syria it is now possible to explain the problems that the authorities faced in their attempts to deal with the two diseases that we are concerned with, scabies and syphilis. As far as the spread of scabies was concerned, one reason seems to have been the overcrowded nature of the barracks and camps. More importantly, the logistical and bureaucratic problems reviewed in the last chapter meant that, as was seen above, the soldiers were rarely issued new uniforms and that they had to stay in their old, often dirty ones for a long time. When Hassan Efendi, the adjutant-major of the 8th Infantry Regiment, received orders to investigate the appearance and uniforms of his soldiers he found most of them in direct violation of the regulations. In a report he sent to his major he said that their uniforms have worn out and “hardly anything is left of the shoes on their feet and a lot of them walk bare-foot in the markets.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1142

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in the Egyptian army’s performance in Syria; poorly clothed and equipped soldiers directly undercut military effectiveness.