FIGHTING CONTAGION

Simple Measures

Early measures to limit and contain the spread of infectious disease included basic sanitation practices and the use of quarantines. As more detailed knowledge of disease transmission evolved, the measures for limiting contagion expanded. John Snow's 1854 discovery of a contaminated water pump led to greater vigilance about water supplies. And Pasteur's bacteriological investigations led him to develop pasteurization, which has been credited with saving untold millions of children's lives by making milk safe.

Left: Composite of poster, quarantine signs, and photo of USPHS team in the field.

Upper right: Quarantine at Ellis Island, New York, port of entry for immigrants, 1930.

Lower right: Disinfecting clothing at Angel Island, San Francisco, port of entry for immigrants, c. 1931.

Since 1798, the United States Public Health Service in various incarnations has been instrumental in monitoring, tracking, preventing, and researching infectious disease. The National Institutes of Health, which is part of the Public Health Service, began as a 19th century bacteriological laboratory for studying infectious disease. One of the Public Health Service's early and very visible functions was to screen immigrants and maintain quarantines.

Left: Fumigating a ship in New York harbor, a corollary to quarantine efforts,
c. 1914.

Upper right: Food and drug inspectors checking a Washington/Baltimore area creamery, c. 1910.

Lower right: Catching rats to test for disease, New Orleans, c. 1914.

A down-to-earth quarantine
In the 15th century, European explorers found and described a "New World." Goods and foods were traded while technologies and germs were exchanged as well. Lacking a pre-existing immunity to diseases such as smallpox, the Native American populations were especially hard hit. Some estimates suggest that up to 90 percent of the native population may have died from diseases transmitted from Europe.

Returning Apollo 14 astronauts, in temporary quarantine, 1971.

In exploring outer space, our next geographic "New World," NASA scientists are scrupulously following basic quarantine procedures to reduce the risk of introducing extraterrestrial microbes to Earth. They are also trying to limit the spread of terrestrial bacteria to other planetary bodies.