Armstrong – Table of Contents

Washington, D. C. area where he entered the newly constructed United States Naval
Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland on August 10, 1942. He remained hospitalized one more
month for further convalescence. He then stayed home for an additional two months until
he felt sufficiently well to return to work. For one week from November 6 to about
November 14 he had a mild illness characterized by indeterminate symptoms and for
which he recorded some notes (24). After this final episode he remained in good health,
ready to resume his full responsibilities as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases.
During the World War II era the Division’s Bethesda laboratory locus was focused
largely on research efforts related to wartime problems, the most prominent of which
were the rickettsial diseases, epidemic typhus and scrub typhus. Dr. Norman H. Topping
became Chief of the Rickettsial Unit in 1941 following Dr. Dyer’s appointment as the
Director of NIH. Dr. Topping had developed an improved epidemic typhus vaccine from
organisms grown in chick embryo yolk sacs that was used successfully to immunize
Armed Forces troops (25). He had also worked extensively with Rocky Mountain spotted
fever, developing a hyperimmune rabbit for human treatment prior to the appearance of
successful antibiotic therapy and studying the epidemiology of the disease in the
Northeastern United States as well as elsewhere in the country. He helped establish the
identical nature of the Eastern and Western strains of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (26).
The unit was trying to develop effective vaccines for scrub typhus because of the
prevalence of the disease among troops in the South Pacific Theater with its attendant
morbidity and mortality. Awards and selective election to prestigious professional
organizations duly recognized Topping’s research in rickettsial diseases (27).