10. Some of the volunteers in the yellow fever experiments.
On January 21, 1901, Private John Andrus of the US Army Hospital Corps overheard Walter Reed and James Carroll arguing over Reed’s determination to have himself deliberately exposed to yellow fever. Knowing Reed’s importance to the commission, Andrus offered to replace him as a potential victim of the disease. Andrus received an injection of blood from a yellow fever patient on January 25, and first exhibited symptoms of yellow fever several days later, though he recovered from the disease. Andrus later wrote of his experiences both with the disease and serving with the commission, in which much of what is known of the experiments and research is found. He later received the Congressional Gold Medal for his service with the commission.
John Bullard, an American citizen and one of two civilian volunteers, allowed himself to be injected with the blood of an infected patient for less altruistic reasons. Bullard later wrote, “Volunteering to Dr. Carroll for experimental yellow fever was, I can assure you, a cold-blooded business proposition. There were no heroics in it as far as I was concerned…I suspected that I would probably get it spontaneously anyhow, so I decided I’d rather have it under favorable circumstances”. The favorable circumstance referred to by Bullard included free medical care should he contract the disease, and the financial remuneration offered by the time of the third phase, which ranged from $8,000 to $20,000 expressed in terms of today’s dollar.