John Vetch MD (1783–1835) was a Scottish army surgeon, now known for his early work on trachoma.
[3] A depot hospital had been set up in 1801 at Selsey to treat British troops returning from the fighting in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, with the condition called "Egyptian ophthalmia".
[4] Stewart Duke-Elder considered that further pathogens were involved, Weeks Koch bacillus, and some mixture of gonococcus.
[5] In 1804 Vetch observed in a battalion of the 52nd Foot at Hythe, Kent, an apparent outbreak of contagious ophthalmia, which over the course of a year spread through most of the soldiers.
Vetch connected his observation of cases of eye disease with the proximity of the Irish militiamen with regiments that had served in Egypt and then returned to Ireland.
[9][10] Vetch served as assistant surgeon in the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot for three months at the end of 1806.
[5] John Peter Grant asked in parliament in 1819 why Adams, who was not a military doctor, was being supported by public money to treat patients who were mainly soldiers.