THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY
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March 26, 1901
Walter Reed Wrote to His Sister
Walter Reed (1851–1902), a doctor famous for his research on yellow fever, was born in Gloucester County. His family moved to Farmville in 1852, and Reed received an M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1869. He received a second M.D. from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York. In 1897 Reed began to study yellow fever. In 1900–1901 while in Cuba he discovered that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes. With the source of the disease finally known, it was almost eliminated. Reed died in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In this letter to his sister, Laura Reed Blincoe, he described some of his work in Cuba and discussed family news.
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