Lazear, Jesse (William) (1866–1900)

US physician. He gained a reputation for his work in bacteriological research. An outbreak of yellow fever in Cuba led to his being appointed an assistant surgeon in the US Army and assigned to a Yellow Fever Commission with Walter Reed, James Carroll, and Aristides Agramonte. Sent to Cuba early in 1900, they investigated and soon proved that the disease was transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. While conducting their research Lazear was bitten by an infected mosquito and died. Lazear was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied at Columbia University's medical school and worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France.