INFECTED FOR SCIENCE: A GRAPHIC HISTORY

World War II was still raging when army-sponsored scientists called upon conscientious objectors to the U.S. military draft to enroll in experiments that would deliberately infect them with hepatitis. The aim of the studies was to better understand a disease afflicting soldiers. While the draft objectors’ pacifism precluded bearing arms, a group of them volunteered for the experiments, placing their lives in jeopardy to assist their country in the fight against Hitler. Infected for Science is a graphic novel for adult and older-YA readers based on the true story of the men who convened at the project headquarters, Camp 140, to participate in virus-transmission studies.

The tale’s protagonist is David Miller, an aspiring artist from a peace-church family who chronicled his experience as a research subject in vivid cartoons. I found several of his drawings when collecting material for my book, Dangerous Medicine: The Story behind Human Experiments with Hepatitis (Yale University Press, 2021). Miller’s adult children sent me a trove of additional cartoons they discovered after their father’s death. Infected for Science incorporates two dozen of Miller’s drawings, images that capture his alarmed reactions to experimental procedures and evoke a gallows humor prevailing at the camp.

Two crises punctuated the men’s stint as study participants. They mounted a protest upon learning that scientists were also transmitting viruses to patients at a mental hospital. And they confronted the reality of the studies’ hazards when ten of their comrades developed acute hepatitis and one almost died. Infected for Science explores the meaning of service and moral issues surrounding risk-laden medical research. The story unfolds with a dramatic narrative arc that makes the human side of medical experimentation come alive.