Scope and Contents The Laboratory Branch was first created in 1905 and formed the nucleus of the Georgia Department of Public Health in the early days of the department's existence. The function of the laboratory is to examine specimens for the detection of communicable diseases, especially tuberculosis, diphtheria and hookworm. Later the laboratory examined specimens to detect gonorrhea, malaria, intestinal parasites, rabies and other diseases. By the 1950's the laboratory was composed of the following...