Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1914 — How UNCLE SAM FIGHTS DISEASE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How UNCLE SAM FIGHTS DISEASE

by Edward B.Clark

1 w*j ETWEEN the people of the <i * United States and disease and l£w W death stands the government’s I public health service. Perhaps p) ■ it will be urged that the great F ■ body of physicians of the United I ' States is the real safeguard of the people. This is in every high V jv st sense true, but in support of the v—■ ZL3l< first seemingly wide-reaching statement let it be known that the physicians of the public health service engage themselves faithfully and with proved efficiency in the labor of prevention of’ which, as the time-tried saying has it, an ounce is worth a pound of cure. , The surgeons of the public health service are, not only septlnels in the field of warfare against diflease,' but they are the advance guard of the soldiers engaged in the fight. The campaign records show that on many fields by early victories they have made great battles unnecessary. It is a large part of their duty to overcome the enemy on his first Appearance, and in many instances to make Impossible his appearance in the field which he seeks to sow with the germs of disease which JMs weapons, of offense. In the popular prints one reads columns of the activities of government in preparations for possible war. There seems to be a delight In dreadnaughts and abiding interest In battalions. Of the life-saving functions of the

government one reads little. The work of the medical service is as devoted and more dangerous than that of the soldier. The doctor in his investigations, experiments and ministrations faces death in the time of peace, and in the time of war the surgeon with the soldier is on the battlefield. There is a living interest in the dally work of the public health service of the United States. It is carried on for the benefit of' all the people, hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of whom know too little of the labor in their behalf. The pjiblic health service of the United States is a biirean of the department of the treasury. It falls directly within the office of assistant secretary of the treasury, Byron R.

Rune t rt n ßlu T e h wh UrgeOngeneral of the Bervice 18 comnllshmont i ° B u reßearch work and whose acweH knSwo t neS ° f medical are 1 he prof ession. There are six as-surgeon-generals, Doctors A. H. Glennan. W. G. Stimpson, L. E. Cofer, J. w. Kerr, W. C. £ UC w r M n l/‘ W - Traflk - They are a„ stationed in Washington and have direction over the various branches in all parts of the country. the medlcal council there appeared this brief but conclusive statement of the manfc fold functions of the public health service of the V United States government: " “Co-operating through the health authorities of the states, the. service Collects data upon the prevalence and distribution of disease, administers interstate quarantine, suppresses epidemics, conducts research work, maintains national quarantine, examines Immigrants, regulates the manufacture and sale of biologic medicinal products In Interstate traffic and furnishes medical treatment to various branches of the government service. Officers of the service may be assigned to duty in any part of the world." It is the intention In the present article to take up and describe only one of the works and fields of labor of the public health service. The waters of Chesapeake bay and its inlets and tributaries form the field of an enormous industry. It is from these waters that are taken a large part of the shell fish approved as a delectable food by thousands and perhaps millions who never saw salt water. How many Americans nodding with the approval of appetite over their oysters on the half shell know that it has been made a matter of government concern that the shell fish should be a food as safe to the health as it is grateful to the taste? It has been said that the American people show great Interest in a dreadnaught, a big ship built for offensive purposes, and, if it is not putting it too strongly, mainly for the sinking of other ships and their crews along with them —a killing purpose. Is it not to be hoped that an equal if not a greater interest may one day be created in the little ships of the government whose only work and only purpose are saving ones? In the control of the public health service Is a little ship called the Brattpn. It bears the name of a surgeon of the service who did commanding work tor mankind in a great yellow fever epidemic and who laid down his life for humanity. The scene of the Bratton's activities is on the waters of the great shell fish producing bay which washes Maryland and the tributaries thereto. It is one of the ships helping to guard the lives of ninety millions of people. The work of safeguarding Hie shell fish beds from pollution and thereby performing the work of prevention at a source from which danger frequently springs, fails in the field of direction of Assistant Surgeon-General J. W. Kerr, “ir charge of the division of scientific research." To give an Idea of the Immensity of the field of precaution, prevention and cure coming under the direction of one man it may be said that Doctor Kerr's duties as set forth In the organization chart of the service appear as follows: Laboratories; leprosy investigation station, Hawaii; hygienic laboratory, Washington, D. G.; division of chemistry, zoology, pharmacology*, pathology and bac"teriology. Field investigations: Diseases affect,4ng man, pollution of streams by sewage and industrial wastes, rural hygiene and school hygiene. I The services of the good ship Bratton are given

to the division . of scientific research. Dr. H. S. Cumming is in command of the coastal work of this ship which means so much to the public, which perhaps knows

little of what is being done in its behalf. This ship’s commander is also a doctor, a surgeon and a scientist. On the ship knowledge is trained against the enemy. The Bratton’s cruises are made in behalf of the welfare of American citizens and they constitute no menace to the country of any people on earth. It is the first duty of the Bratton to safeguard the oyster industry of the waters in which the ship sails. Safeguarding the oyster industry means safeguarding the health of the consumers of dystera nndr other shell fish. In 1912 a . law was passed which gave into the hands of the public health service the work of field investigation into {he causes of diseases affecting man, and the duty of enforcing rules of safety at the sources of trouble. Under the same law the service was charged with the work of the study of the pollution of streams by sewage and by industrial wastes. The work in connection with the oyster industry falls within the field of the duties imposed upon the service by this law of 1912. The Bratton steams all through the coast waters of the Chesapeake, making incursions into the inlets, bays and tributary rivers. Under the direction of the surgeon in charge shell fish are taken from the beds at all the sources of supply. With them are taken samples of the water at different depths and also samples of the material which forms the bed of the coastal waters, the bays and the streams at the points where tt>e test is to be applied. Bacteriological and chemical examinations are made of the shell fish, the water and- the bottom material. The bacteriological examination is the .most important. It discloses the total number of bacteria and the-number of colon bacilli which are present The presence of colon bacilli in great numbers shows the presence of fecal matter and arouses Instant and earnest attention and painstaking examination and report. The layman probably knows in a general way that typhoid fever through the method of its introduction into the system is one of the grave dangers which threatens the people through its food supply. It must not be supposed for a moment that the work of the scientists on the Bratton cease when they have taken their samples and have detected the presence of elements which may constitute danger to the public health. When there is suspicion that the coastal waters, the shell fish bed, or the waters of a beach which are used for bathing purposes by the people, are affected by dangerous deposits, the land whose drainage flows into the suspected waters instantly is studied. AH useful information concerning it is obtained and means are taken to correct conditions which have contributed to the pollution of the waters or have wholly produced it The study of the section of the' land which is suspected of supplying through its drainage the matter which on deposit becomes. a menace through the shell fish supply or otherwise to the public health, comprises an inquiry into the pres-

ent and past conditions of health of the community, whether or not typhoid and other communicable disease are or have been prevalent, the number of cases of such diseases and their location, the general sanitary condition of the houses, the land and the inhabitants. It is a comprehensive work and it is carried out in every locality where there is a thought that danger may exist. At Cape Charles the public health service has an experiment station. It is a well and picturesquely located building, fitted with all the needed appliances for the scientific work which there is prosecuted.- ’At a little distance is a building which is used for a tank house in which are placed all the material which is to be the subject of bacteriological and chemical examination. From the beginning of each working trip until the final results of the examinations of the material collected are known, the work of the service men. is most thorough. Nothing is left to chance and nothing is omitted which might in any way help the safeguarding labor. In this study of possible shell fish bed, or water pollution, the public health service has conducted some work in the Mississippi sound. In the time to come unquestionably the field of labor will be widely extended. The value of the service is unquestionable and it has been so recognized by the scientific world. The shell fish industry is an enormous one and it is of surpassing value. The public health service not only works for the people, but for4he industry itself, which, of course, cannot its product becomes charged with danger to thewubllc health. In a word, one of the great works\f the public health* service is to see to it that onegreat part of the food supply of the United States is made and .kept safe. The reports of the public health service are made pubHc and the government and the individual states profit by them. In the agricultural de-' partment there are two governmental agencies which make use of the information which the public health service supplies. There are pure food and agnitary laws in the United States and there are means of reaching offenders against them. Three departments of the government, the treasury, agriculture, and, if occasion requires, the attorney-general’s department, constitute a partnership of correction and, if the case justifies, of prosecution. The Bratton is a small ship, but fender the direction of the service and of its complement of scientists it is doing a great work for the public health of the people of these United States of America.. ,