150 Years of P.H.S.

As unobtrusive as a well-trained butler, the U.S. Public Health Service moves quietly about its job of doctoring for the nation. Unless there is some sudden medical miching malicho (an outbreak of smallpox in New York, or plague in California), the public sees little of its day-to-day workings. Yet the P.H.S. has helped improve the health of every man, woman & child in the U.S. Last week, few people noticed that the P.H.S. was celebrating its 150th birthday.

Rats & Shaving Brushes. The P.H.S. was established in John Adams' administration, on July 16, 1798, to care for ailing seamen. Its job still begins at the water's edge. Quarantine Servicemen inspect arriving ships (and planes) for victims of smallpox, plague, cholera, typhus, yellow fever (the five diseases defined as "quarantinable" by international agreement). Those with other communicable diseases are passed on to local health authorities to deal with. On all ships the P.H.S. looks for evidence of rats,* which might carry plague. They check imported shaving brushes for signs of anthrax.

But long ago the P.H.S. moved in from the coast. Today, if a community has a standard milk ordinance, the standard was set by P.H.S.; all vaccines used to immunize children against such diseases as smallpox, diphtheria and whooping cough are certified by the P.H.S.; drinking water on trains, ships, planes is certified by the P.H.S.; oysters, clams and other shellfish shipped in interstate commerce must be grown in P.H.S.-certified beds.

Syphilis & the Common Cold. In research, P.H.S. has chalked up a notable list of firsts. Among them: discovery (1914) of the cause, cure and prevention of pellagra; identification (1925) of brucellosis (undulant fever); first use (1942) of continuous caudal anesthesia in childbirth; proof (1943) of the effectiveness of penicillin in the treatment of syphilis; demonstration (1941) that fluorides reduce tooth decay; isolation (1947) of one of the agents causing the common cold.

As it begins its 151st year, what is the biggest job facing the 20,000 men & women in P.H.S.? Says the new P.H.S. head, Surgeon General Leonard A. Scheele, 41: "By 1950, one out of every ten Americans will be 65 years of age or older. The diseases to which this older population are most susceptible are the very ones which are least understood by medical science."

* The rat formula fixed by regulation: if a freighter of 5,000 gross tons or less is found to have more than five rats, it must undergo "de-ratization"; for ships over 5,000 tons, one rat is allowed for every 1,000 tons, with an outside limit of 20 rats. For passenger ships, quarantine officers make their own rules.

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