The high rates of mortality, however, are…

The high rates of mortality, however, are not entirely the result of armed conflict.

Bad food and very poor hygiene had caused most of the deaths, many of which were due to cholera.

Among the Brazilians, two-thirds of the war dead had died either in a hospital or on the march.

At the beginning of the conflict, most of the Brazilian soldiers had come from the north and northeast regions of the country; as such, the change from a hot climate to a colder one, along with restricted food rations, may also have been a contributing factor.

Drinking water from the rivers was also sometimes fatal to entire battalions of Brazilians and made cholera the most likely chief cause of death during the war.