According to reports, a disease known since the First World War is spreading among injured soldiers. ZDFheute explains directly what is meant by a gas fire.
11/14/2025 | 10:55 min
According to reports, an almost forgotten disease is now spreading again on the front lines in Ukraine. Because wounded soldiers were often evacuated from the front lines too late, their wounds became infected. The result: gas gangrene – a disease from which hundreds of thousands of people died during the First World War.
Christian Hoch spoke live on ZDFheute about the latest report with infection expert and microbiology specialist Martin Dennebaum from Mainz University Medical Center. Watch the entire interview in the video above and read an excerpt here.
Infectious disease expert Dennebaum explains…
…what is the background to gas gangrene
Gas burns are caused by bacteria. If these substances penetrate a wound and find optimal growth conditions there, they can break down muscle tissue. This creates the gas that gives the disease its name, explains the infectious disease expert. Although gas gangrene has been known since the First World War, it has never completely disappeared.
A motorcyclist in Germany who had an accident and had serious injuries from contaminated soil, for example, could also fall ill. This disease is life-threatening, but medical care has improved significantly.
The town of Pokrovks in the Donetsk region has been contested for months. The Russian army managed to gradually encircle them and capture part of the city.
11/14/2025 | 3:05 min
…why gas fires are so dangerous in war
However, the wound should be treated immediately if infection occurs, Dennebaum said. This is what is difficult to do on the front lines because injured people often cannot be rescued for days. Treatment of gas gangrene is always an emergency treatment. Antibiotics should be given as an emergency and surgery should be performed. How quickly this help arrives is critical:
It decides between life and death.
Dr Martin Dennebaum, infectious disease expert
Once the disease breaks out, it sometimes only takes a few hours to save the patient. “If this is not possible, the patient will die,” explains Dennebaum.
Ukraine’s major cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, were again targeted by Russian airstrikes last night. The Ukrainian military counted more than 400 attacks.
11/14/2025 | 1:36 min
…how to assess the risk of gas fires spreading in Germany
There are currently isolated cases of gas gangrene infection in Germany. According to Dennebaum, this happened regardless of the situation on the front lines in Ukraine. Therefore, infectious disease experts assess the risk that more people in Germany will contract the disease because of the situation in Ukraine as low:
I don’t see this danger because the pathogen is already everywhere in the environment. They are always there.
Dr Martin Dennebaum, infectious disease expert
The fact that this disease is increasingly reappearing throughout the world is mainly due to the fact that soldiers on the front lines cannot receive adequate medical care. Dennebaum also currently predicts that there will be no more illnesses caused by the World War that will occur again.
Christian Hoch conducted a live interview on ZDFheute and was evaluated by Marie-Anne Soo-Young Knobloch and Janine Arendt.
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