Breath Taking Photographs: Respiratory Disease

Pneumatologists and Respiratory Disease Treatment
Stereoview Circa 1855

This amusing photograph of gas inhalation represents a critical stage in the histories of both respiratory disease treatment and general anesthesia. 

Waiting Out the Pneumonia Crisis
Silver Print, 5 by 7 inches, Circa 1895

In the pre-antibiotic era, pneumonia was a dreaded killer of the young and a welcomed friend of the very old. Prior to the specific therapies and antibiotics of the twentieth century many patients were better off if their disease ran its natural course. Thus doing nothing was often the best therapy. This photograph is common of many similar images of physicians, nurses and the family about the bedside. Many times comments such as “she will be better” were attached to the photograph. The implication being the physicians knew what they were doing, and had confidence in the outcome. It must be noted, pneumonia is still a deadly disease especially when combined with influenza. 

Heliotherapy and Fresh Air treatment for Tuberculosis
New Mexico, 1927

By the 1920s, despite aggressive research, no successful tuberculin vaccine, anti-serum or chemotherapeutic agent had been developed. Most tuberculosis specialists recommended heliotherapy, exposure to the sun, rest and fresh air as the most beneficial, non-surgical, treatment. Eastern and Western high altitude mountainous areas offering crisp fresh air were thought ideal locations. This photograph was taken in a New Mexico tuberculosis sanitarium. Total nudity was preferred for heliotherapy. The warmer, western, dry desert states became the preferred destination for patients with asthma and other chronic lung conditions.

Patient in Respiratory Chamber, Mt. Sinai Hospital,
New York, Circa 1924

As a result of pioneer experiments Mt.Sinai was able to develop one of the worlds first hyperbaric chambers. The chamber offered a new and safer modality for the treatment of numerous other diseases For proteinosis and other lung deposit diseases it is possible to isolate each lung alternately by intubation techniques then administer high oxygenation of one lung as the other lung is repeatedly washed with specially prepared fluids clearing the lung of residue.

Emergency Iron Lung Ambulance, Circa 1937

Death from bulbar poliomyelitis was a frightening prospect for those infected and total panic ensued as the patient realized he couldn’t breath or swallow. A large percentage of the victims died within three days even if placed in an iron lung. The prevailing philosophy was the parents, perhaps, didn’t act quickly enough when their child became ill and that if an iron lung ambulance could be developed it could save lives. The ambulance envisioned would offer early respiratory assistance which would avoid suffocation. The problem was complicated however, as bulbar polio also paralyzed the throat muscles used for swallowing. As the secretions could not be controlled, aspiration pneumonia become a frequent cause of death of those in the respirators. By the end of the decade the disease, infantile poliomyelitis, was renamed simply poliomyelitis or “polio.” When adults contracted the disease they were more helpless than children. Parents could carry their children to the hospital but ambulances were necessary for the adults. The creation of an iron lung ambulance had a great public relations effect as the fear of suffocation at home was somewhat abated.

ALL STORIES AND PHOTOS CAN BE FOUND IN
THE FOUR VOLUME RESPIRATORY DISEASE EDITION
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