Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930): Physician during the typhoid epidemic in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
When the Anglo-Boer War broke out in October 1899, Arthur Conan Doyle, a retired ophthalmologist, was already famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Motivated by patriotism and adventure, Doyle joined the medical staff of a private field hospital endowed by philanthropist John Langman (1846-1928). Langman Hospital opened in Bloemfontein, South Africa, at the height of that city's typhoid fever epidemic which raged from April to June 1900. There were nearly 5000 cases of typhoid and 1000 deaths but official statistics do not truly reflect the magnitude of the suffering. Doyle argued that the British Army had made a major mistake by not making antityphoid inoculation compulsory. Because of the new vaccine's side effects, 95% of the soldiers refused immunization. Despite his strong opinions, Doyle failed to press the issue of compulsory inoculation when he testified before two Royal Commissions investigating the medical and military management of the war in South Africa. One can only imagine how the army might have benefited from the new idea of prophylactic vaccination in preventive medicine if Doyle had not let these opportunities slip away. As a consequence, antityphoid inoculation was still voluntary when Great Britain entered World War I in August 1914.
['Cirillo|Vincent J|VJ|']
D058872:Epidemics D005260:Female D049672:History, 19th Century D049673:History, 20th Century D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008887:Military Medicine D008889:Military Personnel D013019:South Africa D016312:Treatment Refusal D014435:Typhoid Fever D014436:Typhoid-Paratyphoid Vaccines D006113:United Kingdom D014857:Warfare
Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes Langman Hospital Almroth Wright Dr Joseph Bell Dr William Budd John L Langman Portland Hospital Winston Churchill