Editing Max Theiler (section)

== Work on yellow fever ==
After passing the yellow fever virus through laboratory mice, Theiler found that the weakened virus conferred immunity on rhesus macaques.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Frierson|first=J. Gordon|date=June 2010|title=The Yellow Fever Vaccine: A History|journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine|volume=83|issue=2|pages=77–85|issn=0044-0086|pmc=2892770|pmid=20589188}}</ref> The stage was set for Theiler to develop a vaccine against the disease. Theiler first devised a test for the efficacy of experimental vaccines. In his test, sera from vaccinated human subjects were injected into mice to see if they protected the mice against yellow fever virus. This "mouse protection test" was used with variations as a measure of immunity until after World War II.<ref name=":1" /> Subculturing the particularly virulent Asibi strain from [[West Africa]] in chicken embryos, a technique pioneered by [[Ernest Goodpasture]], the Rockefeller team sought to obtain an attenuated strain of the virus that would not kill mice when injected into their brains. It took until 1937, and more than 100 subcultures in chicken embryos, for Theiler and his colleague Hugh Smith to obtain an attenuated strain, which they named "17D". Animal tests showed the attenuated 17D mutant was safe and immunizing. Theiler's team rapidly completed the development of a 17D vaccine, and the Rockefeller Foundation began human trials in South America. Between 1940 and 1947, the Rockefeller Foundation produced more than 28 million doses of the vaccine and finally ended yellow fever as a major disease.

For this work, Theiler received the 1951 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]. Theiler also was awarded the [[Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene]]'s [[Chalmers Medal]] in 1939, Harvard University's [[Flattery Medal]] in 1945, and the [[American Public Health Association]]'s [[Lasker Award]] in 1949.<ref name=":0" />