| | A PHS physician at Ellis Island inspects an immigrant for trachoma, which entailed inverting the eyelid with a buttonhook, early 20th century. |
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| | Bubonic plague appeared for the first time in the United States in 1900. To determine the level of plague within San Francisco, PHS arranged for the dissection of squirrels and rats for evidence of the disease. |
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| | Workers in the PHS program for Malaria Control in War Areas (MCWA) spray an area near a military camp with insecticide to kill mosquitoes during World War II. After the war, the MCWA became a permanent PHS agency called the Communicable Disease Center or CDC (later re-named The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). |
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| | Between 1918 and 1919, the Spanish Flu attacked over five million Americans, killing a half million people in the United States. Although people took precautions, the epidemic defeated all of the public health measures which were enacted against it. |
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| | Rural sanitation was always central to the work of the Public Health Service since the early 20th century. The PHS gave its seal of approval to properly designed privies such as this one. |
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| | The Public Health Service played a central role in the global campaign to eradicate smallpox (1966-1980). Here, a West African tribesman is vaccinated with a jet injector. |