U.S. National Institutes of Health

U.S. Public Health Service physician inspects Asian immigrants for trachoma at the Angel Island Immigration Station, California, 1910s

Courtesy U.S. National Library of Medicine

The examination for trachoma, an infectious eye disease, was quick but extremely uncomfortable: inspectors used a metal hook to turn the eyelid inside out. These immigrants at the Angel Island port of entry in San Francisco, California await their trachoma screening.

Top