#Mosquitos September 17

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For September I am participating in the 30-Day Literary Lesson Coach4aday Challenge today the lesson is on MOSQUITOS.

If you have ever been in the military of follow the health of American Presidents, you know the name Walter Reed. The large medical complex in Washington DC named the Walter Reed Army Medical Center gets its name from an Army Officer named Walter Reed. He helped defeat one of the great enemies of the time: yellow fever which was transmitted by mosquitos.

Literary Lesson about Walter Reed

On November 23, 1902, Walter Reed, head of U.S. Yellow Fever Commission in Cuba, died.  During his time in Cuba, Reed conclusively demonstrated that mosquitoes transmitted the deadly disease Yellow Fever. Despite many myths Reed did not die of complications of Yellow Fever but rather a surgery for appendix. The surgeon for that procedure on Reed was Major William C. Borden.

Borden had operated on his friend Walter Reed for appendicitis on November 17, 1902 and was shocked to find his condition much worse than expected. Reed died several days later after peritonitis set in. Reed was the only appendectomy patient Borden ever lost and he was devastated. Following Reed’s death, Borden became dedicated to honoring his friend. It was his dream to co-locate the hospital, the Army Medical School, the Army Medical Museum and the Surgeon General’s Library.

It wasn’t MOSQUITOS that got Walter Reed famous it was having his friend never forget him.