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410 N. Lime Street, Lancaster, PA 17602
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Infectious Diseases

As a growing cultural center, Lancaster was not immune to the epidemics and disease spread that hit the rest of the early United States. Our Iron Lung machine is testament to the treatment and fight against Poliomyelitis, one of many infectious diseases to hit Lancaster county.

Iron Lung

Purchased for the Lancaster General Hospital in June 1952, this particular iron lung is an Emerson respirator.

Epidemics in Lancaster County

 Henry S. Wentz, M.D. - Chapter 14 of 'Our Medical Heritage'

Back to the Future: Public Health Policy and Immunology Technology in the Fight Against Infectious Diseases

 Joseph Lahr, MD

H.M. Alexander, M.D. and the Lancaster County Vaccine Farm

 Henry S. Wentz, M.D. - Chapter 29 from 'Our Medical Heritage' with Postscript written by Alan S. Peterson, M.D.

Lancaster County During the Smallpox Epidemic of 1883

 Joseph Wilson Lahr, M.D.

Armed and Ready: How Lancaster County Contributed to the Eradication of Smallpox

 Meagan Schulman, B.A. M.A.

Smallpox Excerpt from ‘Hale Columbia: A True & Complete Study of Infectious Disease & Medicine in a Small Pennsylvania Town at the Turn of the Century’

 Joseph W. Lahr, M.D.

Imported or Locally Sourced: Philadelphia’s 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic and the Medical Men Who Fought to Understand It

 Elizabeth Root

Diptheria Excerpt from ‘Hale Columbia: A True & Complete Study of Infectious Disease & Medicine in a Small Pennsylvania Town at the Turn of the Century’

 Joseph W. Lahr, M.D.

The Lancaster County Cholera Epidemic of 1854 and the Challenge to the Miasma Theory of Disease

 John B. Osbourne

Poliomyelitis in Lancaster County with Emphasis on the Iron Lung

 Ellen Hendrix

Typhoid Fever Excerpt from ‘Hale Columbia: A True & Complete Study of Infectious Disease & Medicine in a Small Pennsylvania Town at the Turn of the Century’

 Joseph W. Lahr, M.D. The following excerpts are part of a book entitled "Hale Columbia", a medical record of Columbia, PA. from 1893-1905. If you want more of his excellent medical summaries of institutions of Columbia, diseases and "cures"of those days, medical education in the 1800's, and physicians of Columbia, you may purchase his book from the Edward Hand Medical Museum for a $20 donation, which will be given to the Museum by Dr. Lahr. We appreciate Dr. Lahr's philanthropy and support of the Museum and medical history.

Tuberculosis Excerpt from ‘Hale Columbia: A True & Complete Study of Infectious Disease & Medicine in a Small Pennsylvania Town at the Turn of the Century’

 Joseph W. Lahr, M.D.

Scarlet Fever Excerpt from ‘Hale Columbia: A True & Complete Study of Infectious Disease & Medicine in a Small Pennsylvania Town at the Turn of the Century’

 Joseph W. Lahr, M.D.

The Iron Lung and the Polio Unit at Lancaster General Hospital

 Henry S. Wentz, M.D.

A City Besieged: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Lancaster

 Meg R. Gerstenblith

Unlikely Remedy: How Uncle Victor Escaped Deadly Flu Pandemic of 1918

 D. Garth Wise. Republication courtesy of LNP | LancasterOnline

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If you would like to donate items to the museum, please email us at info@lancastermedicalheritagemuseum.org.

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