Who volunteered to be bitten by carrier mosquitoes to study disease spread?

• A. Clara Maass
• B. Mary Seacole
• C. Clara Barton
• D. Lillian Wald

Answer: (A)

Understanding how a disease spreads through a caused-by-a-vector mechanism was demonstrated by a nurse who volunteered to be bitten by mosquitoes carrying yellow fever. Clara Maass stepped forward to be exposed to the bites as part of the Cuban experiments led by the Walter Reed Commission. Her participation provided direct evidence that mosquitoes could transmit yellow fever, shaping public health actions to control outbreaks and protect communities. She ultimately contracted malaria during the study and died, highlighting the personal risks volunteers faced in early biomedical research. The other women listed—Mary Seacole, Clara Barton, and Lillian Wald—are renowned for their broad nursing legacies in different contexts, but none were involved in this mosquito-transmission experiment.