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Born in 1870 in Auburn, New York, Frederick Fuller Russell earned his Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University in 1893 and his Doctor of Science from George Washington University in 1917. Russell was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. During this time, typhoid fever, a bacterial infection swept through overcrowded Army camps, causing far more deaths than combat. About one-fifth of U.S. Troops contracted typhoid fever, and over 1,500 people died of the disease. Russell later led major efforts to stop the disease through vaccination, paving the way for modern immunization programs.
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U.S. Army Maj. Frederick F. Russell, Medical Corps, USA, during the Spanish-American War, (AMM 06090). OHA 74 Army Medical Museum Photograph Collection.
Russell's involvement with typhoid prevention began during his time at the Army Medical Museum, where he served as the seventh curator from 1907 to 1913. Earlier efforts to develop a typhoid vaccine, led by U.S. Army Maj. James Carroll (AMM curator from 1903 to 1907), involved asking volunteers to swallow doses of killed typhoid bacteria. While process initiated limited immunity, several participants became ill. Russell saw the risks and believed there had to be a safer and more effective approach.
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Small intestine, typhoid fever, (ATED 55- 4993-1). OHA 233.05 Medical Illustration Service, Atlas of Tropical and Extraordinary Diseases Series.
Having visited the laboratories of Richard Pfeiffer and Wilhelm Kolle in Germany and Sir Almroth Wright in Britain in 1908, all three of whom are credited with developing the first typhoid vaccines that were heat-killed, whole-cell injectables, Russell returned to the AMM and took a similar approach. He led efforts to make a cleaner and safer version of the vaccine that could be administered on a large scale. His vaccine adapted the British and German production methods for inactivated whole-cell typhoid vaccines by heating the bacteria and adding a disinfectant called tricresol to kill any bacteria left alive in the vaccine. He modified the vaccine to a subcutaneous form and packed it in small, single-dosage glass ampoules. Previously the vaccine would have been produced in a large multi-dose flask, which may not have ensured the proper killing of the typhoid microorganisms. This helped improve the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
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U.S. Army Maj. Frederick F. Russell was the central figure in the development of a successful anti-typhoid vaccine. This vaccine was both developed and tested at the Army Medical Museum. A room in the museum was transformed into Russell's laboratory, (AMM 01586). OHA 74 Army Medical Museum Photograph Collection.
By 1908, Russell tested his improved version of the typhoid vaccine on his volunteer colleagues at the Army Medical Museum. According to Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Its First Century (Henry, 1962), "credit is due to the mass experiments conceived by Russell and carried out at the Army Medical Museum, and with vaccines at first produced in its laboratories." This act of trust helped build confidence toward the Army's first large-scale typhoid vaccination program.
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U.S. Army Maj. Frederick F. Russell and John Neate administering the first injection of typhoid vaccine to Army Medical Museum volunteers, 1909, (AMM 06093). OHA 74 Army Medical Museum Photograph Collection.
In 1909, the Army began its first major effort to vaccinate soldiers against typhoid. 830 volunteers received the vaccine that year. By Sept. 30, 1911, the Army required all service members to get vaccinated against typhoid. Within just a few months, about 85% of soldiers had received the vaccine. The impact was clear — typhoid cases dropped quickly. In 1909, when fewer than 1,000 troops had been vaccinated, the infection rate was 3.35 per 1,000 soldiers. The dramatic decline that followed demonstrated the success of Russell's work.
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Soldiers during World War I lined up at a medical tent for typhoid vaccination while in the field, 1917, (Reeve 36335). OHA 80 Reeve Photograph Collection.
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Former Army Medical Museum Curator, Frederick F. Russell, retired, stands with U.S. Navy Capt. William M. Silliphant, director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, in the Director's Office, May 8, 1958. Russell holds a photograph of himself administering doses of the first experimental typhoid vaccine to volunteers from the Army Medical Museum, (OHA39-006-00007-001). OHA 39 Museum Records, Biographical Files.
Russell died in 1960 at age 90. Russell's legacy as a physician, leader, and pioneer in disease prevention lives on. His work laid the foundation for large-scale immunization efforts that continue to protect service members and civilians around the world.
Resources
Gase, Jacqueline. "National Museum of Health and Medicine: The Micrograph - a Closer Look at NMHM." Health.mil, 2019, medicalmuseum.health.mil/micrograph/index.cfm/posts/2019/us_military_immunization
Gillett, M. C. (1987). The Army Medical Department, 1865 - 1917 (Vol. 3, Chapter 13). U.S. Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage. Retrieved from https://achh.army.mil/history/book-spanam-gillet3-ch13
Henry, R. S. (Ed.). (1962). Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Its first century, 1862 - 1962. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army.
"NLM History of Medicine Finding Aids." Nih.gov, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025, findingaids.nlm.nih.gov/repositories/ammp/resources/russell546.
