> That is fine for traumatic injuries (earthquakes, fires, war etc) but less than useful for control of infectious disease. Military hospitals (including ship-

> That is fine for traumatic injuries (earthquakes, fires, war etc) but less than useful for control of infectious disease. Military hospitals (including ship-based hospitals) have been planning and preparing to deal with biological warfare (i.e., communicable diseases) for many, many decades, and even before that they were well acquainted with communicable diseases. It was not uncommon in the past for communicable diseases to kill more soldiers than died in actual combat. That is one reason the U.S. Public Health Service is a uniformed service -- so their personnel could operate in war zones without the risk of being shot as spies if they were captured.