Edward Francis Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS C 589

Abstract

Collection contains correspondence, article drafts, and reprints relating to the identification and transmission of tularemia in Japan and Russia during the 1920s and 1930s.

Dates

Creation: 1925-1945

Extent

0.42 Linear Feet (1 box)

Creator

Francis, Edward, b. 1872 (Person)

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English. Some printed materials in Japanese and Russian

Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

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Biographical Note

Edward Francis (1872-1957) was born and educated in Ohio. He received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1897 and began a career in bacteriology with the U.S. Public Health Service in 1900 at the Hygiene Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Dr. Francis studied and wrote on yellow fever, pellagra, tetanus, filariasis, and undulant fever, but is best known for his research on tularemia. His studies during the 1920s proved the connection between deer-fly fever and tularemia, which had been identified in the United States by PHS doctors George McCoy and Charles Chapin. He further identified seven different types of tularemia. In honor of his contributions the name of the tularemia pathogen, Bacterium tularense, was renamed Francisella tularensis. Dr. Francis served as medical director of the Hygiene Laboratory from 1930 until his retirement in 1938.

Collection Summary

The papers focus almost entirely on tularemia in Japan and Russia. The Dr. Hachiro Ohara folders contains correspondence (1925-1943) mostly between this Japanese doctor and Public Health Service officers. The discussions seek to prove that the Yato-Byo (rabbit fever) pathogen was the same as that identified by Dr. Francis as the cause of tularemia. Similarly, the folders Tularemia in Russia (1928-1940) contains correspondence between the Public Health Service and Russian bacteriologists Drs. I. Kritschewski, D. Golov, and Gregory Zarhi concerning the Russian scientists' attempts to identify disease outbreaks as tularemia. Material also documents subsequent information about the status of tularemia in both regions.

Additional Description

Abstract

Collection contains correspondence, article drafts, and reprints relating to the identification and transmission of tularemia in Japan and Russia during the 1920s and 1930s.