Oh, typhus would
definitely be able to be spread through blankets - that one's vector is body lice. And so it was, accidentally - durn near wiped out both sides that way during the Crimean war. TB, probably not blankets, same reason as smallpox -
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a lipid-coated little monster that requires moisture for contagion - in theory - but it does stick around for a long time, which is why the two abandoned tuberculosis hospitals I used to drive by in Gooding, Idaho, haven't been redeployed as schools. While I don't
think there'd be a problem I'd just as soon not bet my kid's life on it. They'll probably raze them.
Now, as to the question of whether we're any more civilized these days, I'll have to take a pass, especially when I think about what I'd like to do certain Moslem radicals. Probably just shoot 'em in reality, though, but is that because I'm more civilized or just more squeamish than my ancestors? Just as good not to know, maybe...
oddly enough, i asked a D.O. about the TB in the blankets,when i was working on a monograph about damnyankee atrocities against innocent civilian & particuliarly against helpless POWs. whether it would ACTUALLY work as a means of transmission was NOT my point;rather it was the INTENT to harm!
he said: "it DAMN SURE would be a way to spread TB!"
i'm NOT a physician, so i don't KNOW.
free dixie,sw