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What causes RMSF?

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Arthur LeRoy Kerlee (March 5, 1905-February 14, 1928)

Arthur Kerlee was born and educated in Darby, Montana—a local boy studying Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) at the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory.  He graduated from Montana State College in 1927 with a B.S. in Botany and Bacteriology. Robert Cooley was one of his professors. After graduating, Kerlee became an assistant bacteriologist in the U.S. Public Health Service at the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory. He co-authored a paper with Dr. Roscoe Spencer on the Weil-Felix reaction as a diagnostic test for RMSF.

Kerlee died during production of the RMSF vaccine. Because he had already received the vaccine, his death caused some consternation in the Bitterroot Valley until it was found that he had only received the first shot and had become ill either right before the shot or right after the shot, meaning that his immunity had not had a chance to develop.

A large number of Bitterroot Valley citizens attended his funeral, which included a quartet and a military tribute from the American Legion because he had been made a 2nd lieutenant in the reserve officer’s training corps. He left a father, four brothers, and two sisters. One of his brothers, James, joined the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory in tribute to his sacrifice.

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Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1578

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Collecting Ticks

Although it was known that RMSF was caused when the Rickettsia rickettsii bacteria infected a Dermacentor andersoni tick that then bit a human, more questions remained. Was the bacteria spread by other species of ticks? And exactly how did the ticks get infected? To find out where the ticks were picking up the infection and to answer a number of other questions, ticks had to be collected in the wild.

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Image Removed

A staff member of the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse Laboratory—possibly Dr. Ralph Parker, C.M. Salisbury, or George Cowan—dragged a white flannel flag over brush and grass to gather ticks in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana. He wore a white jump suit over his regular clothes, tucking his pant legs into the top of his high, laced boots. When they returned from such outings, the men would check each other closely in case a tick had attached itself to one of them.

Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1522

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In 1923, a mountain goat (not this mountain goat kid) taken by George Cowan had over 1,000 ticks engorged ticks on it. It was with these ticks that Dr. Roscoe Spencer came up with his idea for an RMSF vaccine.

Image: Montana Memory, 264

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What causes RMSF?

Div
classgrid-col-6

Collecting Ticks

Although it was known that RMSF was caused when the Rickettsia rickettsii bacteria infected a Dermacentor andersoni tick that then bit a human, more questions remained. Was the bacteria spread by other species of ticks? And exactly how did the ticks get infected? To find out where the ticks were picking up the infection and to answer a number of other questions, ticks had to be collected in the wild.

Div
classgrid-col-6

Image Removed

A staff member of the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse Laboratory—possibly Dr. Ralph Parker, C.M. Salisbury, or George Cowan—dragged a white flannel flag over brush and grass to gather ticks in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana. He wore a white jump suit over his regular clothes, tucking his pant legs into the top of his high, laced boots. When they returned from such outings, the men would check each other closely in case a tick had attached itself to one of them.

Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 1522

Image Removed

In 1923, a mountain goat (not this mountain goat kid) taken by George Cowan had over 1,000 ticks engorged ticks on it. It was with these ticks that Dr. Roscoe Spencer came up with his idea for an RMSF vaccine.

Image: Montana Memory, 264
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