Max Theiler Max Theiler Max Theiler (30 January 1899 – 11 August 1972) was a South African-American virologist and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937, becoming the first African-born Nobel laureate. Born in Pretoria, Theiler was educated in South Africa through completion of his degree in medical school. He went to London for postgraduate work at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, King's College London, and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, earning a 1922 diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene. That year, he
Theiler's disease multiple horses over several months. In the Northern hemisphere it is most common between August to November. It is seen almost exclusively in adult horses, and lactating broodmares given tetanus antitoxin post foaling may be more susceptible. This disease was described in 1919 by Arnold Theiler, a South African veterinary surgeon, after vaccinating horses against African horse sickness using a live virus vaccine and equine antiserum. It was later described in the United States after vaccinating horses for Eastern Equine Encephalitis, again using live virus vaccines and equine-derived antiserum. It has since been reported throughout North America and Europe. Theiler's