22 DDT— Killer of Killers 



this man, whose passing did not go unnoticed, achieved fame 

 by letting a few mosquitoes bite him. These were not ordi- 

 nary mosquitoes: they were members of the species Aedes 

 aegypti, and they had fed, shortly before, on the blood of 

 yellow-fever viaims. 



This event occurred in 1900, when Major Walter Reed, 

 of the Army Medical Service, was checking up on the idea 

 that yellow fever was carried by mosquitoes. Major Reed 

 asked for volunteers who would be willing to let mosquitoes 

 bite them, and 26 soldiers and doctors were selected for the 

 role of human "guinea pigs." Jesse Lazear died within a 

 short time, others contracted the disease but had uneventful 

 recoveries, and still others, like Pvt. John R. Kissinger, whose 

 obituary we have referred to, lived on in pain and suffering 

 for years. In 1906, the infection in his blood paralyzed 

 Kissinger from the waist down, and thus he remained for 40 

 years. It is interesting to note that this man, who did so 

 much for others, never looked upon himself as a hero. He 

 refused all offers of money except the $125 a month disabled 

 veteran's pension. How different his attitude was from that 

 of some of the so-called "heroes" of the recent war, whose 

 only combat experience was what they could purchase with 

 a candy bar, and yet who feel that for their contributions to 

 international relationships they should be supported by a 

 grateful government for the rest of their lives. 



Yellow fever probably originated in Africa, where there 

 is a large endenic yellow-fever area extending 3,000 miles 

 eastward from the west coast to the upper Nile. From here 

 apparently it was carried to the New World on the slave 

 ships along with their suffering human cargo. The Spanish 

 colonies reported yellow fever as early as 1648, and in the 

 years since then it has taken many lives in lands around the 



