Killer bugs like the plague, cholera, and typhoid were all brought under control by adventuring self-experimenters. This program looks at medical trailblazers who took the ultimate risk and injected or ingested some of the most terrifying diseases known to humankind. Describing Louis Pasteur’s flirtation with mortality—during which he asked his assistants to inject him with the rabies virus—the program also explores the gambles taken by two early-20th-century American doctors who injected themselves and their families with polio in a bitter race for a vaccine. Modern researchers who have infected themselves with hookworm in a novel bid to control allergies are also featured. A BBCW Production. (51 minutes)