---
title: "Self-experimentation in medicine"
chunk: 4/7
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-experimentation_in_medicine"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:45:59.502626+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

===== Helicobacter pylori =====
In 1984 a Western Australian scientist, Dr Barry Marshall, discovered the link between Helicobacter pylori (at that time known as Campylobacter pylori) and gastritis. This was based on a series of self-experiments that involved gastroscopy and biopsy, ingestion of H. pylori, regastroscopy and biopsy and subsequent treatment with tinidazole. His only option was self-experimentation: ethical measures forbade him from administering H. pylori to any other person. In 2005, Marshall and his long-time collaborator Robin Warren were awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease".
Marshall's experiment debunked the long-held belief of the medical profession that stress was the cause of gastritis.  This cleared the way for the development of antibiotic treatments for gastritis and peptic ulcers and a new line of research into the likely role of H. pylori in stomach cancer.

===== Campylobacter jejuni =====
Marshall's investigation was preceded by David A. Robinson who, in 1980, ingested Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterium found in cow's milk, to investigate whether gastritis could be caused by drinking milk infected with C. jejuni.  Robinson became sick as a result.  Robinson needed to do a human experiment because the alternative, testing on cows, was not viable as infected cows frequently do not become ill.

==== Malaria ====
Tu YouYou and two colleagues tested qinghaosu on themselves before offering the treatment to patients.

==== Staphylococcus ====
Gail Monroe Dack (1901–1976), a former president of the American Society for Microbiology, gave himself food poisoning by eating cake tainted with Staphylococcus.

==== Syphilis ====
Constantin Levaditi (1874–1953) injected himself with spirochaete from rabbits suffering from syphilis but did not contract the disease himself.

==== Yellow fever ====

In Cuba, U.S. Army doctors from Walter Reed's research team infected themselves with yellow fever including 
James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and, most notably, Jesse Lazear, who died from yellow fever complications in 1900. These efforts ultimately resulted in proof of the mosquito-borne nature of yellow fever transmission and saved countless lives. Stubbins Ffirth had investigated the contagious nature of the disease at the end of the 18th century.
There was an unsuccessful campaign to award a Nobel Prize to Reed's team.  Lazear, in any event, could not be awarded the prize because it is never given posthumously. However, a Nobel Prize was awarded to a later yellow fever researcher and self-experimenter, Max Theiler who, in 1951, developed the first yellow fever vaccine and was the first to try it.

==== Trachoma ====
Anatolii Al'bertovich Shatkin, in 1961, injected trachoma virus into the conjunctival sac of his eye and rapidly developed trachoma.  He did not begin treatment of the condition for 26 days.

==== Schistosomiasis ====
In July 1944, physician researcher Claude Barlow ingested over 200 schistosome worms to carry back to the United States from Egypt to study whether domestic snails could become infected and introduce the disease into the United States. Attempts to send infected snails, the intermediate host, by mail had been unsuccessful. He refused treatment, despite being desperately ill by December, so as not to lose the eggs for further study. He finally passed 4,630 eggs in his semen and 200 eggs in his urine. The U.S. government decided not to use the eggs, so his self-sacrifice was to no avail. It was November 1945 before he finally cleared all the parasites, after treatment with tartar emetic.

=== Non-infectious diseases ===

==== Anaemia ====
William Bosworth Castle, in 1926, ate minced raw beef every morning, regurgitated it an hour later, and then fed it to his patients suffering from pernicious anaemia.  Castle was testing his theory that there was an intrinsic factor produced in a normal stomach that hugely increased the uptake of the extrinsic factor (now identified as vitamin B12), lack of which leads to pernicious anaemia.  Beef is a good source of B12, but patients did not respond with beef alone.  Castle reasoned they lacked production of intrinsic factor and he could provide it from his own stomach.  While Castle was not the recipient of this treatment, his story is included in Who Goes First?: The Story of Self-experimentation in Medicine and is considered a self-experimenter by the author. Victor Herbert made himself folate deficient to prove the deficiency causes pernicious anemia; the special diet also resulted in potassium and iron deficiencies.

==== Hyperthyroidism ====
Elliott Cutler (1888–1947) took sufficient thyroid extract to give himself hyperthyroidism and enable him to study the effect of the condition on kidney function.

==== Scurvy ====
In London in June 1769, William Stark aimed to find the cause of scurvy with a series of dietary experiments on himself. He devised a series of 24 dietary experiments and kept accurate measures of temperature and weather conditions, the weights of all food and water he consumed, and the weight of all daily excretions. He started with a basic diet of bread and water and became 'dull and listless'. When he recovered, he resumed experimenting by adding various foods, one at a time - olive oil, milk, roast goose, and others. After two months, he had symptoms of scurvy. By November 1769 he was living on nothing but honey puddings and Cheshire cheese. He considered testing fresh fruits and vegetables when he died in February 1770.

=== Drugs ===

==== Cocaine ====
In 1936, Edwin Katskee took a very large dose of cocaine.  He attempted to write notes on his office wall, but these became increasingly illegible as the experiment proceeded.  Katskee was found dead the next morning.