Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

James Carroll (June 5, 1854 – September 16, 1907) was a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

physician. Carroll was born in England. He moved to Canada in 1874, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1874. He graduated with an M.D. from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

in 1891. After graduating Carroll studied bacteriology under Dr. William H. Welch at Johns Hopkins Hospital and assisted Walter Reed in pathology laboratories. Carroll and Reed later worked together at the Army Medical Museum in Washington and the Columbia University Medical School. In 1900 he served as an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and a member of the

Yellow Fever Commission The Yellow Fever Commission was a research team of the United States Army which researched treatment for yellow fever. The commission was originally formed as the Reed Commission by Army Surgeon General George Sternberg in 1900. The medical re ...

in Cuba, along with Walter Reed,

Jesse William Lazear Jesse William Lazear (2 May 1866, in Baltimore – 25 September 1900, in Quemados, Cuba) was an American physician. Background Lazear was the son of William and Charlotte née Pettigrew. He attended Trinity Hall Military Academy and Washington ...

, and

Aristides Agramonte Aristides Agramonte y Simoni (June 3, 1868 – August 19, 1931) was a Cuban American physician, pathologist and bacteriologist with expertise in tropical medicine. In 1898 George Miller Sternberg appointed him as an Acting Assistant Surgeon ...

. He and Lazear subjected themselves to the bite of infectious mosquitoes to test the theory that mosquitoes were carriers of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

. Lazear died, but Carroll recovered and completed the last, official experiments of the Yellow Fever Commission. After a trip to Washington D.C., Carroll returned to Cuba for additional studies in which he proved that blood from active cases of yellow fever contained sub-microscopic infective agents. In 1904, with permission from Army Surgeon-General Robert Maitland O'Reilly, Carroll tested an oral typhoid fever vaccine on himself and 12 other volunteers from the military. Due to faulty vaccine preparation by lab personnel, seven men came down with the disease. They all survived, but the Office of the Surgeon General did not publicize the results. Although, Carroll recovered from the initial yellow fever infection, his heart was irreparably damaged, and he died just seven years later. Carroll was the inaugural president of the

United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, abbreviated USCAP, is the largest North American organization of pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to th ...

. He was buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

References

External links

Death of Dr. James Carroll from Yellow Fever Experimentation
*
NCBI BiographyUniversity of Virginia Health Sciences Library, A Guide to the Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection
– includes 154 boxes of items – documents related to Carroll's work and copies of correspondence. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, James 1854 births 1907 deaths United States Army Medical Corps officers George Washington University faculty People from Woolwich Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Deaths from yellow fever