60th anniversary

The Straits Times had reported Dr Wu Lien-teh's death in the 22 Jan 1960 edition of the newspaper:

Dr Wu - plague fighter - dies, aged 81

PENANG, Thurs. - Dr Wu Lien Teh, world authority on plague, collapsed and died suddenly today in his new home in Chor Sin Kheng Road, Ayer Itam, here.

Dr Wu, 81, had only a week ago moved here from Ipoh, where he had been practising, to spend his retirement in his home-town.

He had been unwell for the past two days.

At 11.30am today, he had a stroke and died soon afterward.

Dr Wu, who saved millions of lives in China in the 1910 plague, recently published his autobiography, "Plague Fighter".

He leaves a widow, two sons, Mr Fred Wu, a lawyer in Singapore, and Mr John Wu, a medical student in Hong Kong, and three daughters.

Dr Wu was the fourth of 10 children of an immigrant goldsmith in Penang. He began his education at the Penang Free School and, at 17, won a Queen's Scholarship and went to study medicine.

In 1903, he became the first research student at the Institute of Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur.

Following his success in stopping the plague in China, he became surgeon-general to Chiang Kai-shek, health superintendent of the national railways and director-general of the national quarantine service.