J. Roswell Gallagher, a former staff physician at the Hill School in Pottstown, managed to prevent a virus outbreak in 1934 in a way that offers lessons for today’s handling of the coronavirus, writes Arturo Casadevall for The Wall Street Journal.

During the winter break that year, a student had been exposed to measles. At that time, a vaccine has not yet been developed and the highly contagious disease used to kill hundreds of people each year nationwide.

Gallagher feared a wider outbreak, so he extracted serum from the blood of the initial patient he believed contained antibodies and infused it into the bodies of 62 other boys.

Only three of them contracted the disease and all of the cases were mild. The prompt reaction earned Gallagher a place in public health history.

Meanwhile, his approach might help contain a coronavirus pandemic. Recovering patients could donate their blood which would be tested by doctors for the antibodies that kill the coronavirus.

This serum could be then given to those who are at high risk of infection.

Read more about J. Roswell Gallagher at The Wall Street Journal by clicking here.

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