[1] In June 1900 under the auspices of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and accompanied by fellow eminent Cambridge parasitologist, Dr Walter Myers, Durham led the Yellow Fever Expedition to Brazil.

[2][5][6][7] In 1881 the Cuban epidemiologist Dr Carlos Finlay was the first to theorise that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, but this remained unproven in the wider scientific community.

[7] Durham and Myers were aware of the risks that they were taking; however, on 16 January 1901, after conducting the fourteenth autopsy on victims of yellow fever both men found they were themselves infected.

[7] He was subsequently in charge of an expedition to investigate beriberi in the Malay Peninsula and on Christmas Island, organised by London School of Tropical Medicine.

Through his isolation of wild yeast which ensured that fermentations were consistent, Durham assisted his close college friend, Fred Bulmer, in the development of commercial cider-making.