Jesse William LazearBorn 2 May 1866; died 26 Sep 1900 at age 34.Jesse William Lazear was an American physician and bacteriologist who died of yellow fever in Quemados, Cuba, during his own research into the cause of the disease. He graduated from Columbia's medical school, worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and upon an outbreak of yellow fever in Cuba he was appointed an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army. As a member of the Yellow Fever Commission with Walter Reed, James Carroll and Aristides Agramonte, he was in Cuba early in 1900. Their investigation yielded proof that the disease was borne by mosquitoes. Unfortunately, Lazear was bitten accidentally by an infected mosquito. Five days later, he developed yellow fever and died on the seventh day of his illness. |
