The Physician to Soldier Pipeline · Episode 7 of 14 · 21 min
Fifty Thousand Cases of Jaundice
In February 1942 jaundice appeared among U.S. soldiers in Hawaii, Alaska, Iceland, England and half the training camps at once. The common factor was the Army's yellow fever vaccine, stabilized with human serum carrying hepatitis B. About fifty thousand soldiers were hospitalized, and the board built to study the outbreak lasted past the war, partly through deliberate infection of conscientious objectors.
Who's who
- Francis G. BlakePresident of the Army's board investigating epidemic diseases
- Kenneth F. MaxcyEpidemiologist whose investigation traced the cause within weeks
- Karl F. MeyerResearcher who said in April 1942 the vaccine was responsible
- Joseph Stokes Jr.+1 more episodeCivilian pediatrician who established gamma globulin's effect and ran volunteer studies
- John R. NeefeMedical Corps captain and Stokes's collaborator on separating hepatitis viruses
- Sydney S. GellisMedical Corps captain who ran the gamma globulin trial in Italy
- John R. PaulYale researcher and co-author of the Army hepatitis history
- Frederick C. RobbinsNaples laboratory chief who later won the 1954 Nobel Prize
Where it happens
- Camp Polk, LouisianaWhere over 5,000 men received one vaccine lot in a day
- ItalySite of the 1944-45 gamma globulin field trial
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania+6 more episodesSite of the conscientious-objector hepatitis studies
- Bayreuth, GermanyWhere two physicians scouted a hepatitis center site in 1947
Timeline
- January 1941Army establishes the board for epidemic diseases under Francis Blake
- February 27, 1942More than 5,000 soldiers at Camp Polk inoculated from one lot in one day
- Early April 1942Karl Meyer states the vaccine is responsible
- Mid-April 1942Surgeon General discontinues serum-containing yellow fever vaccine
- Autumn 1944Gamma globulin field trial begins in Italy with about 1,750 men
- July 1947Two physicians photographed near Bayreuth scouting a hepatitis center
Still debated
The exact number of 1942 cases caused by the vaccine is unknowable, and official records give 84 deaths as a probable minimum. Whether an Army hepatitis center was ever built in Germany is unconfirmed.