Plagues and Politics

by Fitzhugh Mullan

Book Overview

Plagues and Politics presents the fascinating history of the United States Public Health Service, written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the service's unique medical militia, the Commissioned... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465057799
• ISBN13: 9780465057795
• Release Date: October 1989
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great overview of the US Public Health Service

"Plagues and Politics: The Story of the US Public Health Service," by Fitzhugh Mullan, Basic Books, NY, 1989. This 223-page hardback tells the history of the US Public Health Service from its founding to the time of Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. The US Public Heath Service traces its beginning to the Marine Hospital Fund, which was authorized by Congress in 1799, to serve merchant seamen in US ports as required by international law. The first hospitals were in Norfolk, VA and Boston, but soon served interior lake and river cities, too. By the Civil War, 27 hospitals had been established. (The last PHS hospitals were closed in 1981.) The service suffered from political appointments in the early days, but by 1872, had become a uniformed professional service with employment based on credentials and examinations. Responsibilities gradually expanded. The Quarantine Act of 1878 gave the Marine Hospital Service federal authority after local services failed to stop the New Orleans yellow fever epidemic of 1877, which quickly spread up the river. The Public Heath and Marine Hospital Service name was adopted in 1902, as was the title Surgeon General. PHS has become the primary health agency of the federal government. Within it are the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Disease Control, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and its sub-agencies, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, and more. PHS has played a role in most health initiatives beginning with syphilis (In 1878, 40% of seamen were reportedly infected with venereal disease, especially syphilis.), yellow fever, cholera, Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, tularemia, pellagra, leprosy, hookworm, plague, the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, typhus, fluoridation of drinking water, smoking, and AIDs. PHS officers provide health care to federal prisons and to Indian reservations, inspect immigrants for signs of illness or mental illness, and were early advocates of clean rivers and drinking water, monitoring of water pollution, and improved privies. Initially PHS was responsible for medical care to the injured veterans of World War I, but in 1922, Congress created the Veterans Bureau, which took responsibility for veterans hospitals. During World War II, PHS physicians serving the Coast Guard saw action on transatlantic convoys. In 1943, the Cadet Nurse Corps was established under PHS to train nurses for the war effort. Passage of OSHA in 1970 created the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in PHS. In addition to its major epidemiology studies and research on diseases and treatments, PHS is an advocate for improved health. Massachusetts was the first state to establish a state health office in 1869. Other states followed. PHS worked to get county health departments established. The American Public Health Association was founded in 1872. PHS undertook monitoring of river pollution and especially