Resistance by applied immunology: fabricated typhus epidemic as civil protection in occupied Poland during World War II

During World War II, Polish physicians Eugeniusz Łazowski and Stanisław Matulewicz fabricated a typhus epidemic, which they reported in detail only after the war. They injected inactivated Proteus bacteria to patients suffering from mild, flu-like ailments in order to trigger a positive Weil-Felix reaction in their serum, the standard diagnostic tool for typhus at that time. These falsely labelled typhus patients would then be protected from seizure by German occupiers, who were much concerned about transmission of this highly deadly disease. According to Łazowski and Matulewicz, this action saved many Poles from forced labour and other atrocities. We here show that this false epidemic was possible with the simple means available at that time, and that it is plausible from a medical and a historical perspective. How the two doctors combined medical textbook knowledge, social responsibility, epidemiological know-how and ingenuity under war conditions is outstanding. They should serve as role models for humanity and resistance under oppressive systems for present and future generations of physicians.