Medicine on the Western Front Practice Test 2026 - Free WWI Medical Practices Practice Questions and Study Guide

Gas gangrene is caused by anaerobic bacteria like Clostridium perfringens, which live in soil and animal manure. When wounds become contaminated with soil containing manure, spores are introduced into tissue. In the dead, low-oxygen environment of a wound, these spores germinate, bacteria multiply, and produce gas and toxins that destroy tissue. That makes manure in soil the infection-related factor in the notes, because it provides the reservoir of spores that can seed a dangerous wound infection. The other options describe signs, outcomes, or the disease itself rather than a predisposing factor.