Interesting short article on Dr. Montizambert's work in disease quarantine
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by Ian A. Cameron, MD CCFP
Rural family physician in Sherbrooke, NS
Dr Frederick Montizambert was Director General of Public Health for Canada in 1918. He graduated from Edinburgh University in the United Kingdom in 1864 and entered public service in 1866 as an Assistant Quarantine Officer at Grosse ?le, Que.* He was exposed to typhus while inspecting immigrants arriving to Grosse ?le and contracted the illness in 1868.3 Upon his recovery, rather than opting for a safer line of work, he devoted the rest of his career to quarantine and public health. In succession he became the Medical Superintendent at Grosse ?le, then the General Superintendent of the St Lawrence Service. This was followed by his appointment as Director General of Public Health and Sanitary Adviser to the Government of Canada in 1899. In the same year he successfully supervised the smallpox quarantine of 2000 Doukhobours on Lawlor Island in Halifax Harbour, NS.4 He was appointed a federal deputy minister by statute in 1905 and in effect became the first Canadian Deputy Minister of Health.
During his tenure the major quarantine diseases (ie, smallpox, cholera, typhus, yellow fever, and bubonic plague) were brought under control, despite being serious threats from immigrants or shipping personnel entering Canada. He did this by developing and maintaining strict quarantine measures at the 4 key maritime quarantine stations in Canada: Lawlor Island in Halifax Harbour, Partridge Island in Saint John Harbour, NB, Grosse ?le in the St Lawrence River, and William Head on the southern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Full story: http://www.cfp.ca/cgi/content/full/56/5/453
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by Ian A. Cameron, MD CCFP
Rural family physician in Sherbrooke, NS
Dr Frederick Montizambert was Director General of Public Health for Canada in 1918. He graduated from Edinburgh University in the United Kingdom in 1864 and entered public service in 1866 as an Assistant Quarantine Officer at Grosse ?le, Que.* He was exposed to typhus while inspecting immigrants arriving to Grosse ?le and contracted the illness in 1868.3 Upon his recovery, rather than opting for a safer line of work, he devoted the rest of his career to quarantine and public health. In succession he became the Medical Superintendent at Grosse ?le, then the General Superintendent of the St Lawrence Service. This was followed by his appointment as Director General of Public Health and Sanitary Adviser to the Government of Canada in 1899. In the same year he successfully supervised the smallpox quarantine of 2000 Doukhobours on Lawlor Island in Halifax Harbour, NS.4 He was appointed a federal deputy minister by statute in 1905 and in effect became the first Canadian Deputy Minister of Health.
During his tenure the major quarantine diseases (ie, smallpox, cholera, typhus, yellow fever, and bubonic plague) were brought under control, despite being serious threats from immigrants or shipping personnel entering Canada. He did this by developing and maintaining strict quarantine measures at the 4 key maritime quarantine stations in Canada: Lawlor Island in Halifax Harbour, Partridge Island in Saint John Harbour, NB, Grosse ?le in the St Lawrence River, and William Head on the southern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Full story: http://www.cfp.ca/cgi/content/full/56/5/453